Plant iron
Minerals & trace elements
The iron of plants, in a form the body absorbs far less well than that of meat.
Two levers more effective than quantity: vitamin C at the same meal (× 3 to 4), and tea or coffee kept apart. Phytates and tannins slow it down.
Effects and benefits
Iron carries oxygen in every red blood cell, fuels energy and thinking, and reduces tiredness. Its deficiency is the most widespread in the world, and a woman before menopause needs one and a half times more than a man.
Iron contributes to normal formation of red blood cells and hemoglobin, to normal oxygen transport, to normal cognitive function, to normal energy-yielding metabolism, to the normal function of the immune system and to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue (Regulation 432/2012).
Plant iron is less well absorbed than that of meat, but the gut adapts: a hormone discovered in 2001, hepcidin, opens or closes the door depending on stores. When they fall, absorption of plant iron can double or triple (Hurrell and Egli, 2010).
By sex and age: EFSA sets the reference intake at 11 mg a day for a man and for a woman after menopause, and 16 mg for a woman before, because of periods (EFSA, 2015). Teenage girls, women with heavy periods and people who eat no meat are the most exposed to deficiency (WHO).
Sources: EU Regulation 432/2012 · Hurrell and Egli, AJCN, 2010 · EFSA, 2015 · WHO
Where to find it (32)
- Adzuki bean
- Amaranth
- Bambara groundnut
- Black bean
- Black chickpea
- Black lentil
- Black soybean
- Broad beans
- Cashew
- Chickpeas
- Fermented tofu
- Finger millet / ragi
- Flageolet / borlotti bean
- Green / brown lentil
- Hemp seeds
- Horse gram (kulthi)
- Lablab bean
- Lima bean
- Moringa leaves
- Oats
- Pistachio
- Pumpkin seeds
- Quinoa
- Red kidney bean
- Red lentil
- Sesame seeds
- Soybeans / edamame
- Spinach
- Squash leaves
- Teff
- Urad bean
- White bean