How much iron is too much?

September 21, 2005 8:13 PM

Is it possible to get too much iron ("too much" meaning when one starts suffering detrimental effects) just from eating a lot of foods rich in iron?

My girlfriend's been using a food journal site to track the stuff she's been eating lately and has noticed that she's been getting 250% of her daily recommended amount; she's wondering at what level you'd start noticing problems, or if it's even possible to eat enough iron in a regular diet to cause problems. She doesn't take any supplements--this is purely from food.

posted by Kosh to health & fitness (11 comments total)

i understand that it's possible to get too much iron ... in fact, children have died from gobbling up too many vitamins ... and the iron's what killed them

i'm not sure that just getting it from food would be dangerous
posted by pyramid termite at 8:16 PM on September 21, 2005

Individuals demonstrate signs of GI toxicity with ingestions of more than 20 mg/kg, but less than or equal to 40 mg/kg. Moderate-to-severe intoxication occurs when ingestion of elemental iron exceeds 40 mg/kg. Ingestions exceeding 60 mg/kg may be lethal.
cite

Any iron she gets from a dietary source won't be nearly enough to hurt her.
posted by Jenga at 8:39 PM on September 21, 2005

The amount of iron consumed in the diet . . . [has been] associated with an increased risk of heart attacks.
posted by caddis at 9:04 PM on September 21, 2005

There is a disorder in iron metabolism called hemochromatosis. If she doesn't have that, the dietary intake described probably wouldn't be enough to do any damage. The dangerous levels are described in this article, and are just what Jenga said above.
posted by dilettante at 9:05 PM on September 21, 2005

My girlfriend had to stop taking multivitamins with iron because her iron levels were too high - I don't know what the consequences would have been, but the doctor definitely told her to stop the supplements. Iron levels can be tested with some simple bloodwork, I think - perhaps your girlfriend should get this tested at her next doctor's appointment? I have no idea about whether this is possible solely from diet, though.
posted by advil at 9:29 PM on September 21, 2005

It's rare to get iron toxicity from food sources alone. It's usually from mineral supplements. BTW, this is the main difference between women's and men's multivitamin+mineral supplements; men can't tolerate the levels of iron in women's supplements.

I assume your girlfriend is pre-menopausal; if so, she's probably fine because she loses blood every month. If she's worried about her iron levels, she should go to her doctor and get serum iron, total iron binding capacity, and ferritin levels. Those three in combination are useful for diagnosis, and it is a simple test.

There's an easy way to know if you're getting enough iron in your diet - just look at the palms of your hands. Are the deep lines in your palms just a little darker than the rest? If so, you're getting enough iron. (Going to nursing school gives you all kinds of fun facts.)
posted by lambchop1 at 11:53 PM on September 21, 2005

Excess iron can cause constipation, I've heard - though I'm not sure if this refers to supplements or iron obtained from food. I guess she'd know if this one was occurring.
posted by altolinguistic at 1:22 AM on September 22, 2005

If she's eating lots of iron...is she eating lots of red meat? because that's got its own dangers.
posted by goethean at 10:15 AM on September 22, 2005

No; she's been vegetarian for a year and a half now and didn't eat red meat even when she wasn't. She doesn't take any multivitamin either--mostly B vitamin supplements and a few other things that I'm too lazy to ask about or get up and walk three feet over to go check for myself. Nothing else that contains iron, at any rate.

I think she gets most of her iron from whole grain foods (whole wheat bread, pasta, bagels) and vegetables. She's not terribly worried about this right now, as she had some bloodwork done a couple months ago and no problems showed up there. It's mostly curiosity. Thank you all for your informative answers.
posted by Kosh at 11:58 AM on September 22, 2005

FYI vegetarians need whey protein and creatine.

Women need alot of iron. Not to worry.

Everyone needs a multi, c, e, and b.
posted by ewkpates at 12:29 PM on September 22, 2005

FYI vegetarians need whey protein and creatine.

Why? Got a source? I don't think that's true.
posted by sennoma at 11:16 PM on September 26, 2005