Are you ironing?

On Tuesday, I took my mother-in-law to her doctor's appointment. The reason for the appointment was that her red blood cell count was low. It has never been particularly high for a number of reasons, hovering at 11 (normal range is 12 to 16), but her last blood test indicated a RBC count of just over 8! What to do? A transfusion might be in order...but then the doctor suggested Procrit or Aranesp. The MD was quick to assure us that cancer was not an issue - Procrit has a pretty good ad campaign aimed at chemo patients. What these drugs do is stimulate the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells. Chemotherapy often can reduce this production, so Procrit and Aranesp are injected to help fight that. But, there must be enough iron in the blood stream for the bone marrow to use in RBC production. My mother-in-law has also been struggling with that (keeping her iron intake up to snuff) . So, I did a little research to find out how a woman (and women are the most likely to be anemic!) can keep her blood in good shape, i.e. full or iron building-blocks and red blood cell production on high! What I found out was rather interesting. Of course, taking a multi-vitamin + mineral supplement was one way, and the ferrous-form iron pills are great, though sometimes uncomfortable. But what foods would be good sources of iron? I thought I knew. . .
First I found out that there are 2 types of iron: heme, from animal sources; non-heme, from plant sources. Heme iron is much more readily absorbed than the non-heme. To increase the absorption of non-heme, you should eat "absorption enhancers" with those foods. For example, if you're having bran flakes for breakfast, you should have a glass of orange or tomato juice to "enhance" your absorption of the available iron in the cereal. We all know LIVER is full of iron, but sardines, tuna, shrimp, clams and oysters are good sources, too. Cockles and blood pudding are powerhouse iron sources, but ewee??!! Spinach, right? WRONG! In fact, it shows up as an iron-absorption INHIBITOR, as do red wine, tea, rhubarb, sweet potatoes, whole grains, and soy products! You can still eat these things, just don't eat them with your iron source foods.
Iron really is important in a woman's (and a child's) diet. Do you know what the RDA is for iron? For children and adult males, it's 10 mg. For women (age 12 - 50) it's 18mg., and 30mg. during pregnancy! Iron is notoriously low in the North American diet, especially in children one to two years old, and in women of child-bearing age. Surprisingly, it is also low among athletes, who pack their diets so full of carbohydrates that they tend to omit iron-rich foods.
Consider this a PSA. Knowledge is POWER! To find out more about how to IRON-UP, try here or maybe here , though I'm sure there are lots of sites that can give you more information. I just thought I would pass on what I learned. Now, I have to go make some liver and onions and wash it down with a BIG glass of WHITE wine (an iron-absorption enhancer - of course, I wouldn't drink it unless it were!).