Is there a best time to take an iron supplement? Are there foods, drinks and other supplements that can interfere with its absorption? The answer is YES YES YES. Taking an iron supplement can do wonders for your health – but only if we actually take it correctly. To celebrate Dr Libby’s new book, Fix Iron First, we sat down with the best-selling author to understand how to take our iron supplement in order for it to actually work, and be most effective.
Could an iron supplement – or altering your diet to more iron-rich foods – be the answer to your health woes? Dr Libby has certainly given us a lot of food for thought in her latest book, Fix Iron First. The tagline under the title of the book reads: ‘The ONE Thing That Changes Everything’, and you won’t have to get too far into the book before you’ll find yourself nodding along in agreement or having an ‘aha’ moment, when thinking about your own (or your family members’!) health concerns.
Many of us already take an iron supplement – but, if you’re someone who diligently takes yours every day, yet wonders if it’s actually doing you any good, it may come down to how you’re taking it.
Yip, it turns out there’s a couple of things you definitely want to avoid eating or drinking anywhere near the time of your iron supplement – and there’s also a best time of the day to take it.
Here’s five things, straight from Dr Libby, that you should know about taking your iron supplement:
Take Your Iron in the Morning…
Is there an ideal time of the day to take an iron supplement? According to Dr Libby there most certainly is. You’re going to have better results if you take it early in the day, vs the afternoon or evening.
“Iron absorption is better in the morning than the afternoon because there’s a protein we make in the liver called hepcidin,” says Dr Libby. “It’s like the bouncer at the stadium who decides whether iron can be let into the stadium or not.
“Let’s say the stadium is full, so the bouncers stand there and say, ‘no, we’re full, you can’t come in.’ But when the stadium is empty, they can step aside and let all the patrons flood in. So hepcidin is low when we need iron, and it lets the iron in. When hepcidin goes high, it’s because we’ve got enough iron or it’s because there’s a lot of inflammation in the body. Hepcidin is naturally higher in the afternoon, so our absorption is going to be better in the morning.”
…But Not With Coffee or Tea…
If you swallow your supplement down with a gulp of your morning coffee – Dr Libby has some bad news for you: you’re wasting your money and time on buying the supplement because you’re really limiting its ability to work.
Some people think it’s the caffeine in coffee that’s the problem, but Dr Libby says it’s actually not the case.
“It’s the polyphenols in things like tea and coffee that interfere with iron absorption,” she says. “So, take them a minimum of 30 mins away from tea or coffee.”
…And Perhaps Not Breakfast
Okay, yes, this is getting a bit tricky but if you have a calcium rich breakfast (maybe you have yoghurt? Cereal and milk?) you want to space it out from your breakfast too.
“Calcium and iron compete for absorption, which means it can be tricky at breakfast time because a lot of people have calcium rich foods at that time,” says Dr Libby.
“If that’s you, maybe it’s in our handbag to take mid-morning.” Or, alternatively, she says, you may even want to take it when you first wake up (it’s fine to take on an empty stomach) if you know you don’t have a coffee or eat breakfast for at least 30 mins after you wake up.
It’s also a good one to remember in case you take a few supplements all at once. Like, if you take iron and also a multivitamin, you’re going to want to check that the multi doesn’t include calcium, so they’re not competing!
What About the Vitamin C / Iron Connection?
If you’ve heard the old story about taking vitamin c with your iron, you’ve definitely got part of the story right.
The time you want to add vitamin C in is when you’re getting iron from a vegetable plant source – this is called non heme iron.
“When it’s non heme iron, you need an acid,” says Dr Libby. “Non heme iron is a form called ferric – it’s fe3+ and we can’t absorb that. We can only absorb fe2+ which is ferrous iron, so you need an acid to convert the fe3+ to fe2+ and vitamin C is an example of an acid that’s an ascorbic acid which is going to do that for you.”
Dr Libby says it’s therefore very important to add vitamin c to a plant-based meal. And, it can be very easy – and more delicious – to do so. “For example, if you’re eating spinach, just add a squeeze of lemon juice and you’ll get more out of it,” she says.
If you’re taking a supplement like Dr Libby’s Bio Blends Iconic Iron you don’t need to think about taking vitamin c alongside it – it’s absorption mechanism is completely different.
It Might Be a Good Idea to Have Your Kids on an Iron Supplement too…
Unfortunately, for a plethora of different reasons, lots of our youngsters are not getting the amounts of iron they really need.
In Dr Libby’s book she says “an Australian study done in 2022 found that 90% of babies aged seven to 12 months were consuming far less iron per day than the recommended amount. This is deeply concerning. Iron is essential for oxygen delivery to brand-new, precious tissues, growth and development, learning, cognition and memory at this age. It is needed for sleep and appetite too.”
Iron is super important for kids and teenagers too – particularly for teenage girls when they begin menstruating. Teenage boys can be iron deficient too – although it’s less common than in girls – but it can really play havoc with their energy, learning, behaviour, mood, and sporting and academic performance.
For teenage girls, the recommended daily requirements of iron are huge. From age 14 to 18 it’s 15mg a day or 27mg if they’re eating in a vegan or vegetarian way).
“One of the first ways to tell that she might be iron deficient is that her face will typically be pale,” says Dr Libby. She says the other symptoms to look out for are fatigue – and interestingly, anxiety, which oftens accompanies low iron levels. They may also experience more hair loss than normal.
Dr Libby’s supplement is a capsule form and is safe to take for kids aged one and up. The capsule form means it’s easier for little kids if you want to open it up and tip into their food (remember not to put it in with yoghurt or a calcium rich food though!).
Dr Libby’s new book, Fix Iron First is out now.
