The consumption of iron is essential for the health of all, especially women of childbearing age, babies and children. Iron deficiency can cause a variety of symptoms, from energy-draining anemia to disruptive behavior in children. Because adequate dietary iron is so critical to health, many of our foods are fortified with iron to decrease the public health risk of being too low in iron.
Cereals are probably the most iron-fortified food in this country. For babies, iron-fortified baby cereal is a great way for babies to get the iron they need to grow. For older children and adults, a single serving of cereal often provides 100% of the iron recommendation.
But what if a large amount of this highly fortified cereal is consumed by older men and women who have much lower iron requirements than younger women and children? Women of childbearing age need 18 mg of iron, but men and women in menopause only need 8 mg of iron. While a healthy body can actually exert some control over the absorption of too much iron, once in the body it can be problematic to excrete it. If too much iron is absorbed on an ongoing basis, it can cause a variety of symptoms, from increased infection to organ failure in susceptible people.
If you walk down the cereal aisle and start looking at the Nutrition Facts label on cereal boxes, you will see that some of the most popular cereals, including some of the healthier high fiber varieties of whole grains, often they contain 50 to 100%. of the 18 mg recommended for younger women. So what about an older man or woman who chooses to eat multiple servings of these cereals on any given day? They would be ingesting much more iron than they need, potentially putting themselves at long-term medical risk. Let’s see how some popular cereals stack up per serving relative to the 18 mg iron requirement:
- Cheerios has 6.3 mg
- Special K has 6.3 mg
- Corn Chex has 9 mg
- Corn flakes have 9 mg
- Grape bran has 6.3-10.8 mg (depends on brand)
- Wheat Chex has 14.4 mg
- Mini frozen wheats have 16.2 mg
- Multi-Bran Chex has 16.2 mg
- The total has 18 mg
For those who love their cereal but need less iron, there are some options with less iron, such as:
- Kashi cereals range from almost no iron to 2 mg, depending on the variety selected.
- Puffins have less than 1 mg
- Cooked oatmeal has less than 2 mg.
- Fiber One has 4.5 mg
- Iced Cheerios have 4.5 mg
- Basic 4 has 4.5 mg
Since many people eat more than the standard 1 / 2-1 cup serving size, there is no question that some of you are consuming large amounts of iron from cereals. Combine large servings of iron-fortified cereal with a glass of orange juice, and the absorption of iron is tripled over the vitamin C in that orange juice!
Should You Change Your Choice Of Cereal Based On Your Iron Needs?