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People switching to a plant-based diet are often concerned about their iron intake, and with good reason. 27% of the global population experiences iron-deficiency anemia, making iron deficiency the most common nutrient deficiency worldwide. Those at higher risk include infants, the elderly, and women during menstruation and pregnancy.

Iron deficiency is not to be taken lightly. It can hurt the cognitive development of infants, children, and teenagers. In pregnant women, it can lead to preterm delivery and low birth weight. In adults in general, symptoms include restless legs syndrome, fatigue, weakness, and trouble concentrating. 

A lot of people believe that the answer to this is eating red meat, but as you’ll see below, that’s not really the case. We can get all the iron we need from plants, but we do need to pay attention to what we eat and how we combine our meals.

Iron Absorption

Adult men need to absorb about 1 mg of iron a day. Adult women in their menstruating age need to absorb 1.5 mg a day. However, you will notice that the Daily Value (general intake recommendation) is 18 mg a day. This is because we do not absorb all the iron we eat, regardless of the source.

There are two types of iron: heme iron (found in animal blood) and non-heme iron (found in plants). For people not following a whole-foods, plant-based diet, the absorption rates are 25-30% of iron from meat, 7-9% from leafy greens, 4% from grains and 2% from legumes. This sounds very discouraging if you are planning to get all your iron from plant sources. But here’s the thing, these rates change dramatically when our body gets used to eating plants and when we grow the right gut bacteria. Plus, a little plant-knowledge goes a long way.

Discover your top whole-foods, plant-based sources of iron below, try our personalized nutrition calculator, learn how we use iron in our body, and read important information on how to increase your iron absorption from plants. Lastly, see why we should avoid heme iron and be very cautious when using supplements.

Top Whole-Food, Plant-Based Sources

Hover over each food below to see how much iron you can get with one serving. Click on each food’s picture to visit its interactive page with a personalized calculator of all the nutrition you can get from one serving, more information about how it supports our body, tips to choose and prepare it, interesting facts, and more!

Lentils

Lentils

1 cup cooked = 6.59 mg

Link
Oats

Oats

1 cup dry = 3.44 mg

Link
White Beans

White Beans

1 cup cooked = 6.62 mg

Link
Spinach

Spinach

1 cup cooked = 6.43 mg

Link
Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

1/4 c dried kernels = 3 mg

Link
White Mushrooms

White Mushrooms

1 c cooked = 2.71 mg

Link
Soybeans

Soybeans

Mature 1 c cooked = 8.84 mg

Link
Nutritional Yeast

Nutritional Yeast

1 Tbs non-fortified = 3.8 mg

Iron Personalized Calculator

See how much iron you and your family members need, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.

Terminology:

  • Daily Value (DV): The recommended amount of nutrients to consume each day for individuals who are 4 years old or older.
  • Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA): The recommended amount of nutrients to consume each day according to the individual’s age, gender, and whether a woman is pregnant or breastfeeding.
  • Upper Intake Level (UL): The highest amount of nutrient intake that will not pose adverse health effects on most individuals.

How Our Body Uses Iron

70% of the iron in our body binds to hemoglobin, the pigment that makes our blood red. The remaining 30% binds to proteins or is stored in our cells. Hover over each pointer below for more details on how our body uses iron. Click on the pointer to visit the specific body part’s interactive page to discover what other nutrients support it, the best sources to find them, and other interesting facts.

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Important Things to Know

Hover over each of the interesting facts below to flip the tiles and learn more details.

Check out the interesting facts below! Tap on the red triangles to flip the tiles and learn more details.

Iron-deficiency anemia affects 4 to 5 million Americans every year.

The most common symptoms are extreme fatigue and lightheadedness. Other symptoms include sensitivity to cold, shortness of breath, confusion, rapid heartbeat, pale skin, hair loss, brittle nails and pica (cravings for dirt, clay or other non-food items).

1 in 30 women in the U.S. lose more iron than they ingest during menstruation.

Be sure to pay special attention to meal-planning during these days to include multiple sources or iron in your diet while pairing them up with foods that are rich in vitamin C. Continue to watch your iron intake levels during the rest of the month to ensure your levels are at a good place before you start your next period.

Worried about not being able to get all the iron you need? This study shows how women with suboptimal iron stores increased their iron levels by eating a high-phytate diet.

Calcium in high amounts interferes with heme and non-heme iron absorption.

Whether you’re ingesting heme or non-heme iron, taking high amounts of calcium through supplements or dairy will interfere with your iron absorption. This can be an issue if you’re taking calcium supplements during pregnancy. Talk to your doctor and check your iron levels regularly.

Phytates and polyphenols in plants bind to iron limiting our absorption.

Phytates in legumes and grains, and polyphenols in red kidney beans, berries, and other plant foods, can limit our iron absorption. The good news is that we can increase our intake from phytate foods (see below). Unfortunately, not so much from polyphenol-rich foods.

Polyphenols are phytonutrients with strong antioxidant properties that we should definitely include in our diet. But, during your period or while dealing with an iron deficiency, choose legumes that are not red and eat other polyphenol-rich foods separately from your iron-rich foods.

The more phytates we eat, the more iron we can absorb from phytate foods.

This is because a diet rich in phytates is also a diet rich in fiber, and this fiber helps us grow good bacteria in our gut. This bacteria is able to break down phytates which allows us to absorb more iron. Without this bacteria, iron absorption from legumes is only about 2% and from grains it is about 4%. Learn more.

Vitamin C boosts our iron absorption from phytate-rich foods!

Vitamin C enhances intestinal non-heme iron absorption, counteracting the phytates limitations. It has been reported that eating 500 mg of vitamin C with a non-heme iron source increased iron absorption by 6 times. Learn more.

Make sure you eat your vitamin C sources at the same time as your iron sources for maximum effect, and include foods that are very rich in vitamin C like red bell peppers, red cabbage or kiwifruit.

Iron helps reduce lead absorption.

As much as we try to keep our children and ourselves safe from lead pollution, sometimes it’s hard to identify potential sources. While this may not fully protect us from lead poisoning, iron, calcium, and vitamin C help reduce lead absorption.

Too much heme iron is linked to cancer and other diseases.

Our body only absorbs the amount of non-heme iron it needs, but it can’t do the same with heme iron. If our diet is rich in animal foods like meat or liver, we can end up with too much iron in our system. This can lead to cancer (especially colorectal cancer), heart disease, neurodegenerative disorders, inflammatory conditions, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, infections, and diabetes.

Accidental iron ingestion? Call the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.

Accidental ingestion happens mostly in children under 6 years old. An ingestion of over 60 mg of elemental iron could be deadly, and one single prenatal vitamin typically has 60-90 mg per tablet.
 
This type of accidental toxicity is also very common among cats and dogs. For them, a dose higher than 20 mg of elemental iron would be toxic.
 
First symptoms are usually gastrointestinal, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, or blood in the stool or vomit.
 
Do not hesitate to call the Poison Control Center immediately at 1-800-222-1222 if you suspect your children or your pets ingested any amount of iron supplements.

Iron-deficiency anemia affects 4 to 5 million Americans every year.

The most common symptoms are extreme fatigue and lightheadedness. Other symptoms include sensitivity to cold, shortness of breath, confusion, rapid heartbeat, pale skin, hair loss, brittle nails and pica (cravings for dirt, clay or other non-food items).

1 in 30 women in the U.S. lose more iron than they ingest during menstruation.

Be sure to pay special attention to meal-planning during these days to include multiple sources or iron in your diet while pairing them up with foods that are rich in vitamin C. Continue to watch your iron intake levels during the rest of the month to ensure your levels are at a good place before you start your next period.

Worried about not being able to get all the iron you need? This study shows how women with suboptimal iron stores increased their iron levels by eating a high-phytate diet.

Calcium in high amounts interferes with heme and non-heme iron absorption.

Whether you’re ingesting heme or non-heme iron, taking high amounts of calcium through supplements or dairy will interfere with your iron absorption. This can be an issue if you’re taking calcium supplements during pregnancy. Talk to your doctor and check your iron levels regularly.

Phytates and Polyphenols in plants bind to iron limiting our absorption

Phytates in legumes and grains, and polyphenols in red kidney beans, berries, and other plant foods, can limit our iron absorption. The good news is that we can increase our intake from phytate foods (see below). Unfortunately, not so much from polyphenol-rich foods.

Polyphenols are phytonutrients with strong antioxidant properties that we should definitely include in our diet. But, during your period or while dealing with an iron deficiency, choose legumes that are not red and eat other polyphenol-rich foods separately from your iron-rich foods.

The more phytates we eat, the more iron we can absorb from phytate foods.

This is because a diet rich in phytates is also a diet rich in fiber, and this fiber helps us grow good bacteria in our gut. This bacteria is able to break down phytates which allows us to absorb more iron. Without this bacteria, iron absorption from legumes is only about 2% and from grains it is about 4%. Learn more.

Vitamin C boosts our iron absorption from phytate-rich foods!

Vitamin C enhances intestinal non-heme iron absorption, counteracting the phytates limitations. It has been reported that eating 500 mg of vitamin C with a non-heme iron source increased iron absorption by 6 times. Learn more.

Make sure you eat your vitamin C sources at the same time as your iron sources for maximum effect, and include foods that are very rich in vitamin C like red bell peppers, red cabbage or kiwifruit.

Iron helps reduce lead absorption.

As much as we try to keep our children and ourselves safe from lead pollution, sometimes it’s hard to identify potential sources. While this may not fully protect us from lead poisoning, iron, calcium, and vitamin C help reduce lead absorption.

Too much heme iron is linked to cancer and other diseases.

Our body only absorbs the amount of non-heme iron it needs, but it can’t do the same with heme iron. If our diet is rich in animal foods like meat or liver, we can end up with too much iron in our system. This can lead to cancer (especially colorectal cancer), heart disease, neurodegenerative disorders, inflammatory conditions, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, infections, and diabetes.

Accidental iron ingestion? Call the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.

Accidental ingestion happens mostly in children under 6 years old. An ingestion of over 60 mg of elemental iron could be deadly, and one single prenatal vitamin typically has 60-90 mg per tablet.
 
This type of accidental toxicity is also very common among cats and dogs. For them, a dose higher than 20 mg of elemental iron would be toxic.
 
First symptoms are usually gastrointestinal, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, or blood in the stool or vomit.
 
Do not hesitate to call the Poison Control Center immediately at 1-800-222-1222 if you suspect your children or your pets ingested any amount of iron supplements.

Comparison of Iron Sources

You may be wondering about other potential sources of iron, such as supplements and meat. Below we make a quick and simple comparison between the three choices, including absorption rates for each and the risks found in non whole-foods, plant-based options.

Best source!
Plant-Based
When our gut is not used to phytate-rich foods and when we do not add vitamin C to our meals, we absorb 7-9% of iron from leafy greens, 4% from grains and 2% from legumes. These rates increase by almost 50% in people following a balanced WFPB diet. When we add 500 mg of vitamin C to our meal, the rates are six times higher. Thus, we could absorb 18% of iron from legumes and 36% from grains! Also, cooking our grains with onions or garlic could increase iron absorption by up to 50%.
We can’t get too much non-heme iron because our body only absorbs the amount it needs.
Supplements
Choose non-heme iron supplements to avoid toxicity and to avoid an increase in oxidative stress caused by heme iron. It can be helpful during pregnancy or while treating an iron deficiency.
Iron poisoning from supplements is one of the most common, and most deadly, toxic ingestion among children and pets. Be sure to keep your supplements in their children-proof containers and out of reach.
Lead has been found in iron supplements. Choose a source you trust.
Animal-based
We can absorb 25-30% of iron from meat. This could seem like a good thing, but as opposed to non-heme iron, our bodies can’t regulate how much non-heme iron we keep inside of us. Excessive heme iron is linked to colorectal cancer, heart disease, infections, neurodegenerative disorders, inflammatory conditions, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, and diabetes.

References