Top 50 Iron Rich Foods – Boost Your Energy & Overcome Low Iron Symptoms

Increasing your intake of iron-rich foods shouldn’t be too difficult. All it takes is for you to know which of the foods you eat are high in iron and start planning your meals accordingly. Unfortunately, the range of knowledge of most people, when it comes to iron and iron-rich foods, is too limited.

For a quick read on where to start, you can read our article on Foods with an iron hit, but here we will provide a much more detailed overview of the best iron-rich foods with their iron content.

The data has been drawn from the USDA National Nutrient Database for the standard reference version September 22, 2009, which contains all the nutritional data for more than 7,000 foods. Unfortunately, you can’t just download the database and do a quick iron content ranking to bring you the best iron-rich foods. Actually, you can, but the problem is that the list you get will not be very useful in your daily life, as the main items would be things like freeze-dried parsley, dried thyme, beluga meat, cumin seeds, and all kinds of foods that can consume. you wouldn’t eat in large enough amounts to help you load up on iron.

We have done the hard work for you and have carefully gone through the USDA database and compiled this list of the top 50 iron rich foods and have listed them by category so you know that when you eat meat, what meat to choose, when you buy vegetables , what to put in your shopping cart, and when you need a quick snack, which can help you increase your iron intake in just a few minutes.

This list is not a complete list of the iron content of all possible foods; if you don’t see it here, it means it’s not particularly high in iron.

Eat these iron-rich foods, pair them with iron absorption enhancers, avoid iron absorption inhibitors, and you’re well on your way to increasing your iron levels and getting rid of those low iron symptoms.

Breakfast cereals

Fortified breakfast cereal is one of your best options for increasing your iron intake, and here is a short list of some of them. As you can see, eating just one serving of these will provide you with around 18mg of iron, but keep in mind that the typical absorption rate for a healthy adult is only about 10-15% of dietary iron. So drink a glass of orange juice with your cereal to increase its absorption. Also, keep in mind that the last two elements of the latter are dry, that is, before you have added milk or water!

• Ralston Fortified Bran Flakes: 27 mg / cup
• Kellogg’s Whole Oat Bran Flakes: 25 mg / cup
• General Mills Multi-Grain Cheerios: 24 mg / cup
• Kellogg’s Bran Whole Wheat Flakes: 24 mg / cup
• Malt-O-Meal, plain, dry: 92 mg / cup
• Cream of wheat, instant, dry: 51 mg / cup

Meat

Red meat is high in iron and comes in the heme form that is most easily absorbed by your body; normally, the body absorbs between 15% and 35% of heme iron. Organ meats are the best sources of iron within the meat category, and of these, liver is probably the most popular, which is why we’ve included it on the list as we don’t know too many people who eat spleen or lungs. , we have excluded them. types of organs. If you like liver, go for the expensive goose liver, but very good! Or at least opt ​​for pork liver instead of beef liver. When you opt for red meat in your diet, add some less standard options like Emu, Ostrich, or Duck in place of beef.

• Goose liver, raw: 31 mg / 100g
• Pork liver, cooked: 18 mg / 100g
• Chicken liver, cooked: 13 mg / 100g
• Lamb liver, cooked: 10 mg / 100g
• Beef liver, cooked: 7 mg / 100g
• Emu, cooked: 7mg / 100g
• Ostrich oyster, cooked: 5 mg / 100g
• Quail meat, raw: 5 mg / 100g
• Duck breast, raw: 5 mg / 100g
• Veal, steak, cooked: 4 mg / 100g
• Veal, ground, cooked: 3 mg / 100g

Fish and shellfish

Fish is often not considered a good source of iron and most fish are not, only fatty fish like mackerel and sardines provide a decent amount of iron. So when you want to eat fish, go for oily fish, which provides you with the most iron and is also rich in omega-3s. When you add seafood to the equation, we suddenly find some of the best iron-rich foods you can find, especially clams – think clam chowder. A quick comparison to the meat category shows that octopus or cuttlefish outperform all normal meats in terms of iron content and are second only to liver. So, it’s time to add some sautéed calamari to your weekly menu.

• Clams, canned, drained solids: 28 mg / 100g
• Clams, cooked: 28 mg / 100g
• Fish caviar, black and red: 12 mg / 100g
• Cuttlefish, cooked: 11 mg / 100g
• Cooked octopus: 10 mg / 100g
• Oyster, medium, cooked: 10 mg / 100g
• Anchovy canned in oil: 5 mg / 100g
• Shrimp, cooked: 3 mg / 100g
• Sardine, canned in oil: 3 mg / 100g
• Mackerel, cooked: 2mg / 100g

Vegetables

Vegetables are an essential part of your diet, they are packed with essential nutrients, and most people don’t get enough of it, but when it comes to iron, most vegetables aren’t too hot. If you choose your vegetables carefully, you can use vegetables to help increase your iron levels, especially if you include some iron absorption enhancers in your diet, as non-heme iron from vegetables is not easily absorbed by the body. Vegetables that are in the top 50 iron-rich foods include various beans, potato skins, tomatoes, and green leafy vegetables like spinach, chard, and parsley. Chili con carne, which combines meat, beans, and tomato sauce, is a great iron-rich recipe, but so is a white bean salad with plenty of fresh parsley and light vinaigrette.

• Mushrooms, morel, raw: 12 mg / cup
• Tomatoes, sun dried: 5 mg / cup
• Potato skin, baked: 4 mg / skin
• Parsley, raw: 4 mg / cup
• Boiled soybeans: 9 mg / cup
• Spinach, boiled, drained: 6 mg / cup
• Tomato sauce, canned: 9 mg / cup
• Boiled lentils: 7 mg / cup
• Palm hearts, canned: 5 mg / cup
• Navy beans, canned: 8 mg / cup
• Beans, boiled: 5 mg / cup
• Chickpeas, boiled: 5 mg / cup
• Pinto beans, frozen, boiled: 3 mg / cup
• Lima beans, boiled: 4 mg / cup
• Hummus, commercial: 6 mg / cup
• Swiss chard, boiled, chopped: 4 mg / cup
• Canned asparagus: 4 mg / cup
• Chickpeas, canned: 3 mg / cup
• Canned tomatoes: 3 mg / cup
• Sweet potato, canned, mashed: 3 mg / cup
• Endive, raw: 4 mg / head

Nuts and seeds

Nuts and seeds are great iron-rich foods as they are fairly high in iron content and so versatile that you can eat them in many ways. A quick cashew snack is hearty, healthy, and high in iron – and it’s delicious too! Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds can be easily roasted and added to a salad for a nice crunch and an iron boost. Sesame seeds are used in a variety of Asian dishes and all of these can be used in baking or as a quick addition to your breakfast cereal. Just make sure you always have some around the house and you will soon find plenty of ways to add them to your daily meal.

• Sesame seeds, whole, dried: 21 mg / cup
• Pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seeds, dried: 11 mg / cup
• Sunflower Seed Kernels, Roasted: 9 mg / cup
• Cashews, dry roasted, halved and whole: 8 mg / cup
• Pistachio nuts, dry roasted: 5 mg / cup
• Almonds, whole grains, blanched: 5 mg / cup

Fruit

Fresh fruit is not rich in iron, but dried fruits like apricots, peaches, or prunes make great iron-rich snacks to eat between meals or to add to various recipes. The only thing to remember about fresh fruit is that most contain a lot of vitamin C, and since the vitamin is an iron absorption enhancer, eating fresh fruits or vegetables high in vitamin C with your meal can increase by greatly the amount of iron in your body. absorbed.

• Apricots, low moisture dehydrated: 8 mg / cup
• Peaches, dehydrated low moisture: 6 mg / cup
• Plums, low moisture dehydrated: 5 mg / cup
• Canned jumbo olives: 0.3 mg / olive
• Dried gooseberries: 5 mg / cup
• Apricots, dried, sulfur, uncooked: 4 mg / cup
• Canned blueberries: 7 mg / cup

Iron rich snacks

Aside from nuts and dried fruits, there are quick and easy iron-rich snacks that you can buy at the grocery store and use as an instant iron booster. Below or some examples, but if you plan to buy some bars or drinks then you should remember to check the nutrition labels of the actual products you buy as the actual iron content can vary greatly from brand to brand and even product to another. product within the same brand.

• Nestlé Supligen, canned supplemental drink 9 mg / can
• Snickers Marathon Honey Nut Oatmeal Bar: 8mg / bar
• Snickers Double Marathon Chocolate Nut Bar 8mg / bar
• Snickers Marathon Multigrain Crunch Bar: 8 mg / bar
• Pretzels, soft: 6 mg / large
• Nut mix, regular: 3 mg / cup

Eggs:

Dairy products are not high in iron, but they do contain a lot of calcium and calcium is known to act as an inhibitor of iron absorption, so you should try and eat calcium rich foods separate from your iron rich foods both as possible. Eggs aren’t too high in iron, but egg yolks aren’t that bad and if you can find fresh goose eggs, they could be used in a great iron-rich breakfast!

• Goose egg, whole: 5 mg / egg
• Egg yolk, raw: 7 mg iron / cup
• Scrambled egg: 3 mg iron / cup