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Vegans, especially vegan women of menstruating age, are well known to be almost universally iron-deficient, because our bodies absorb iron from meats much more

Vegans, especially vegan women of menstruating age, are well known to be almost universally iron-deficient, because our bodies absorb iron from meats much more readily than other (such as vegan) sources. Interestingly, Vitamin C increases the rate at which you can get iron from greens such as spinach. So maybe a glass or orange juice and a bowl of salad a day keeps the doctor away.

david-gpu 2y ago
If you want vitamin C without the sugar load of drinking orange juice, you may be interested to learn that bell peppers have a much higher content of vitamin C than oranges, either per gram or per calorie. Edit: Let me offer some USDA data points for those who are curious, but not curious enough to bother Googling for themselves. Red Bell Peppers: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170108/nutrients https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170108/n... Green Bell Peppers: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/2258588/nutrients https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/2258588/... Oranges: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/746771/nutrients https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/746771/n...
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  Even green ones?
- adrian_b 2y ago
  True. Eating one raw red bell pepper per day is pretty much guaranteed to provide enough vitamin C, even when no other food contains any. If the red bell peppers are cooked, some of the vitamin C will be lost, but there still should be more than is most kinds of food.
DiscourseFan 2y ago
Yeah but Vegans consume a lot of vitamin C so that makes a lot of sense. Also explains why I crave red meat and vitamin C after a workout. Can't get enough of the stuff.
- okdood64 2y ago
  Interesting; I have never craved vegetables or fruits after a strength training workout. Only anything high in protein. Eggs, red meat, chicken, whatever.
aziaziazi 2y ago
False! probably? :) Vegetarian resource group 2018 https://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.php https://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.php > Some might expect that […] vegans might be prone to developing iron deficiency anemia. However, surveys of vegans have found that iron deficiency anemia is no more common among vegetarians than among the general population although vegans tend to have lower iron stores. > In fact, if the amount of iron in these foods is expressed as milligrams of iron per 100 calories, many foods eaten by vegans are superior to animal-derived foods.[…] you would have to eat more than 1700 calories of sirloin steak to get the same amount of iron as found in 100 calories of spinach. > Another reason for the satisfactory iron status of vegans is that vegan diets are high in vitamin C 2021 Norway health institute https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33803700/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33803700/ > In conclusion, although the participants were eating a plant-based diet, the majority had sufficient iron status Nutrients 2021 https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/9/2964 https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/9/2964 > We did not find differences in the prevalence of iron deficiency between vegetarians and omnivores among men and women who do not menstruate. Among women who menstruate, vegetarians had a higher prevalence of iron deficiency than omnivores did. In this last one they’ll mixed non-omnivorous together. Not sure why, and how to calculate it.
- adrian_b 2y ago
  It is not this simple. A vegan diet can provide enough iron, but this is not automatic. One has to actually take care to ensure this. While some studies like those quoted by you have found vegans who ate enough iron, studies done in other countries have found vegans with iron deficiencies. I have seen at least 2 or 3 such studies, I think one was about vegans in UK. While there are many vegetables with a relatively high iron content, their iron content is still rather low so you have to eat greater quantities than many people would want to eat. Moreover, many of those vegetables are not cheap and eating large quantities is likely to make the expenses for the daily food greater than when eating food that includes meat. So yes, vegans can eat enough iron, but they must be aware of the danger of eating too little iron and they must carefully choose their food to avoid this danger. Similar problems are caused by calcium, which exists in vegetables, but also in much smaller amounts than desirable. It is possible to eat a vegan diet with enough iron and calcium, but in many cases it is much less expensive and also easier to eat less food, but complete it with some iron and calcium supplements.

david-gpu 2y ago

If you want vitamin C without the sugar load of drinking orange juice, you may be interested to learn that bell peppers have a much higher content of vitamin C than oranges, either per gram or per calorie. Edit: Let me offer some USDA data points for those who are curious, but not curious enough to bother Googling for themselves. Red Bell Peppers: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170108/nutrients https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170108/n... Green Bell Peppers: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/2258588/nutrients https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/2258588/... Oranges: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/746771/nutrients https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/746771/n...

selimthegrim 2y ago
Even green ones?
adrian_b 2y ago
True. Eating one raw red bell pepper per day is pretty much guaranteed to provide enough vitamin C, even when no other food contains any. If the red bell peppers are cooked, some of the vitamin C will be lost, but there still should be more than is most kinds of food.

DiscourseFan 2y ago

Yeah but Vegans consume a lot of vitamin C so that makes a lot of sense. Also explains why I crave red meat and vitamin C after a workout. Can't get enough of the stuff.

okdood64 2y ago
Interesting; I have never craved vegetables or fruits after a strength training workout. Only anything high in protein. Eggs, red meat, chicken, whatever.

aziaziazi 2y ago

False! probably? :) Vegetarian resource group 2018 https://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.php https://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.php > Some might expect that […] vegans might be prone to developing iron deficiency anemia. However, surveys of vegans have found that iron deficiency anemia is no more common among vegetarians than among the general population although vegans tend to have lower iron stores. > In fact, if the amount of iron in these foods is expressed as milligrams of iron per 100 calories, many foods eaten by vegans are superior to animal-derived foods.[…] you would have to eat more than 1700 calories of sirloin steak to get the same amount of iron as found in 100 calories of spinach. > Another reason for the satisfactory iron status of vegans is that vegan diets are high in vitamin C 2021 Norway health institute https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33803700/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33803700/ > In conclusion, although the participants were eating a plant-based diet, the majority had sufficient iron status Nutrients 2021 https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/9/2964 https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/9/2964 > We did not find differences in the prevalence of iron deficiency between vegetarians and omnivores among men and women who do not menstruate. Among women who menstruate, vegetarians had a higher prevalence of iron deficiency than omnivores did. In this last one they’ll mixed non-omnivorous together. Not sure why, and how to calculate it.

adrian_b 2y ago
It is not this simple. A vegan diet can provide enough iron, but this is not automatic. One has to actually take care to ensure this. While some studies like those quoted by you have found vegans who ate enough iron, studies done in other countries have found vegans with iron deficiencies. I have seen at least 2 or 3 such studies, I think one was about vegans in UK. While there are many vegetables with a relatively high iron content, their iron content is still rather low so you have to eat greater quantities than many people would want to eat. Moreover, many of those vegetables are not cheap and eating large quantities is likely to make the expenses for the daily food greater than when eating food that includes meat. So yes, vegans can eat enough iron, but they must be aware of the danger of eating too little iron and they must carefully choose their food to avoid this danger. Similar problems are caused by calcium, which exists in vegetables, but also in much smaller amounts than desirable. It is possible to eat a vegan diet with enough iron and calcium, but in many cases it is much less expensive and also easier to eat less food, but complete it with some iron and calcium supplements.