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| Author |
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miranda
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Where's the iron?
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Mar 31 08:12 UTC 1995 |
I'm beginning to suspect that food producers produce for men. At least
nutrition-wise, contents of food do not seem all that well suited
to my body. I suffer from an iron deficiency, many of my friends do
too and I was wondering how much of a problem it would be to add iron
to the food. When nutritional requirements were drawn up, they probably
took an average between men and women, the result being that women had
less iron in their diets. I could eat red meat, but I am not that much of
a meat eater and vegetable sources are for the most part poor. Iron
supplements (in capsules) don't agree with me either. It is a shame
that the nutritional requirements of women are often ignored by both
the health care providers and the food industry.
There...that's my tirade against makers of macaroni and cheese.
I feel much better now. :)
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| 28 responses total. |
popcorn
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response 1 of 28:
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Mar 31 14:37 UTC 1995 |
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popcorn
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response 2 of 28:
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Mar 31 14:37 UTC 1995 |
This response has been erased.
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ajax
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response 3 of 28:
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Mar 31 15:00 UTC 1995 |
I think the feds may mandate iron supplements in most breakfast cereals.
I heard that they impose certain nutritional requirements because kids eat
a lot of it, often to the exclusion of a balanced diet. I think there are
also requirements for additives to most flours, breads, or pastas (don't
remember which), but I don't know if they include iron.
Is your problem with iron supplements a medical problem, or a
lifestyle/distaste problem? Lately I've been eating sweet chewable
colorful kids vitamins, as I've always been inept at swallowing pills, and
find I just don't take the swallowable ones regularly. If your prob has
medical origins, I wonder if getting these and breaking them into smaller
doses taken throughout the day might help you get your iron? The big ones
look like they could be quartered easily enough.
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simcha
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response 4 of 28:
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Mar 31 18:11 UTC 1995 |
I think iron may not be added to many foods because it affects the taste
and is hard to disguise. Also, too much might be bad for you. Or,
simply because there isno great outcry for it.
Taking iron supplements upsets my stomach, but i tend to be anemic.
Try an overpriced brand called "Slow FE"--time released tiny iron tablet.
I have lived on these when I am pregnant.
Too much iron causes constipation, so if you take supplements, take
lots of water too.
Spinach is high in iron, as are other dark leafy greens and some other
veggies. Fish is also good for you.
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omni
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response 5 of 28:
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Mar 31 18:29 UTC 1995 |
Multivitamins are also a good source of iron.
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aruba
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response 6 of 28:
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Apr 1 00:27 UTC 1995 |
Re #4: I recall hearing that while there is a lot of iron in spinach, for
some reason it's in such a form that the body can't use it, and it passes
right through. Can anyone tell me if that's true?
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ajax
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response 7 of 28:
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Apr 1 03:49 UTC 1995 |
According to the urban legends FAQ in item 97, spinach doesn't have
much more iron than other veggies. The myth was allegedly started by a
misplaced decimal point in an USDA report or something, and propegated
from there. It does have more iron and minerals than most veggies
though, but it also has a lot of oxalic acid, which binds to the minerals,
and as Mark said, prevents the body from getting much use from them (it
also gives spinach a sharp taste). Better iron sources in the veggie
kingdom, according to my science almanac, might be peas, tomato juice,
or lima beans. Woowoo, party down! :->
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miranda
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response 8 of 28:
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Apr 1 04:44 UTC 1995 |
Maybe it's just the air in Canada or my body recovering from grad school.
I do choose high iron foods, and my friends who have the same problem do
too, but to no avail. But then I guess there's always VAMPIRISM.
Iron supplements give me a bad stomach too.
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popcorn
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response 9 of 28:
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Apr 1 04:52 UTC 1995 |
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ajax
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response 10 of 28:
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Apr 1 18:15 UTC 1995 |
Ahso, "pasta" is not enriched, but "enriched pasta" (which seems to be
most mainstream pasta) does have additives, including iron. Of the 14
labeled types of pasta in our pantry, 8 were labeled "enriched," contained
iron as an ingredient, and had precisely 10% of the USRDA of iron...one
other added iron, but only 8% USRDA, and wasn't labeled "enriched." The
remaining five were organic, imported, and/or natural, contained no iron
additives, and of those that listed iron as a nutrient, they had 4-6% USRDA.
I've heard that you shouldn't rinse pasta after cooking because you wash
away the nutrient additives...anybody know if that's true? A cookbook I
read said you don't need to rinse pasta unless it's going in a pasta salad,
but didn't explain why.
By the way, lest you fear that I live in an underpasta'd household, let
me assure you that it harbors several more kinds of pastas in unlabeled bags.
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popcorn
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response 11 of 28:
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Apr 1 19:13 UTC 1995 |
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headdoc
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response 12 of 28:
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Apr 1 20:04 UTC 1995 |
I do alot of washing of raw vegtables and chicken before I eat and/or cook them
but i never would rinse cooked pasta or cooked veggies. I wouldn't see any
reason to do so. I also would guess you could wash away some nutrients but
my thought is that the boiling probably already did most of that. That's
why I steam most of my vegtables now. But you can't steam pasta, can you?
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ajax
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response 13 of 28:
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Apr 2 03:25 UTC 1995 |
Betchya could if you're reeeaaallly patient!
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mta
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response 14 of 28:
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Apr 3 05:21 UTC 1995 |
as a quick aside, the reason to rinse pasta if you're going to make a
cold pasta salad is to remove the "flour silt" that washed off the pasta in the
hot water, and which once cold, will get gummy.
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chelsea
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response 15 of 28:
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Apr 3 15:06 UTC 1995 |
The general rule of thumb is to rinse pasta when you don't want
whatever else you're adding to the dish to cling to the pasta.
Cold pasta salads, where you add veggies and a light dressing,
should include rinsed pasta. If you're planning to add a red
sauce to hot pasta and you don't want the sauce to simply slip
to the bottom of the bowl, you don't rinse the pasta. The
residual starch acts as a binding agent, as needed.
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headdoc
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response 16 of 28:
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Apr 3 20:39 UTC 1995 |
I learn something new every day ;-).
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danr
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response 17 of 28:
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Apr 16 12:20 UTC 1995 |
re #0: I'm not a nutritionist, but perhaps you have some kind of problem
with absorbing iron. That might explain why iron supplements make you
ill. It might be worth seeing someone about this.
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glenda
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response 18 of 28:
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Apr 16 14:38 UTC 1995 |
Have you been diagnoised as iron deficient by a Dr. I was just reading
and article that said that getting too much iron often causes the same
symptoms as too little and that a lot of anemias are not caused by iron
deficiency but by other causes. The only real way to tell if you need
extra iron or not is by having a blood test that measures iron levels.
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ajax
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response 19 of 28:
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Apr 19 03:47 UTC 1995 |
"In a small study, heathy women absorbed 30 to 50 percent more iron
from their food when their meals contained no milk or cheese,
suggesting that people at risk for iron deficiency shouldn't eat
iron-rich and calcium-rich foods (or supplements) at the same time.
-BL American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61:97, 1995."
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brighn
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response 20 of 28:
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Apr 19 04:07 UTC 1995 |
Oh, that's nice... calcium is important, too, esp. for females.
Why not just consume half again as much iron?
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simcha
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response 21 of 28:
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May 9 15:17 UTC 1995 |
Everyone I know gets sick from iron pills, they are very hard on the stomach.
That's why I need to use the time released ones when I do take them
(Slow FE brand).
re # 19: An advantage to keeping Kosher! But, is that because milk &
cheese prevent iron absorption? What about iron & calcium tablets at the
same time?
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popcorn
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response 22 of 28:
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May 10 15:01 UTC 1995 |
This response has been erased.
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iggy
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response 23 of 28:
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Aug 11 15:42 UTC 1995 |
iron pills dont make me 'sick'.. they just cause my stool to be dark and
stickey. would that be due to blood in the stool?
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popcorn
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response 24 of 28:
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Aug 13 15:04 UTC 1995 |
This response has been erased.
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