HOW I wish I'd done my research YEARS AGO. I wasted years trying to get my iron levels up with this. Turns out that non-heme iron (what this is) can barely be absorbed (like 2% -10% absorption) even when taken under the very best circumstances - on an empty stomach and with Vitamin C. It also causes stomach upset for most people, and feeds bad gut bacteria that love iron (they eat the iron that is not absorbed - which is almost all of it). So this may be fine if your iron levels are already normal and you just want to take it for fun and you like feeding bad gut bugs. This and other NON-HEME iron supplements have become the standard because... drumroll... THEY'RE REALLY CHEAP TO MAKE AND SUPER SHELF STABLE!!! What a surprise. Good for profits, not for us. Also, non-heme iron supplementation makes your body produce a hormone called hepcidin, which stops you from uptaking any more iron for the next 24-48 hours. So the best strategy -according to research - it to take it every other day. Oh, and you can't take it with Magnesium, or Zinc, or coffee, or a meal - or it's already very low absorption rate goes down to nothing. Unless you're a strict principled vegetarian, or your iron levels are potentially so high that you could overdo it (the body has a lot more control over how much non- heme iron it takes in when it doesn't need it anymore), I see not one reason to take non-heme iron (vegetable sources) instead of heme (animal sources).HEME iron- it's from animals (pork and cow). The body uptakes it immediately - absorbs about 20x more than it does from a non-heme supplement. And none of the other issues or restrictions apply : you can take it with or without food/other supplements/ coffee, it doesn't upset the stomach, or cause constipation, or make hepcidin, or feed bad gut bacteria - it just brings up your iron levels much much faster. Were talking about doing in a month or two what would take a year or more with non-heme iron. I can't believe they even sell this stuff, and doctors don't tell us the difference. My doctor and I have been talking about my iron deficiency that I've had since I was a teen for years, and she never told me that non- heme was a waste of time to take as a supplement. It's not like Heme iron is THAT much more expensive. So how is it that non-heme gets covered by insurance, and heme iron doesn't? Welcome to the American nuthouse.For people like me who have struggled with low iron levels for decades, and finally got serious about supplementing, and found it takes FOREVER or doesn't work at all- you're being sold THE WRONG KIND OF IRON. Get Heme. Specifically, *heme iron polypeptide*, and some methylated B vitamins to help your body use it. You can take a lot of Heme iron to bring your levels up fast. But BE CAREFUL NOT TO GET YOUR IRON LEVELS TOO HIGH - That's really bad for you too. You have to know your FERRITIN LEVELS, not just your Hemoglobin. DO YOUR RESEARCH! Iron levels are one of the fundamental things messing up a LOT of people's health, especially women who menstruate (blood loss). It makes all the difference to quality of life to understand and fix your iron issues. Even if your hemoglobin is normal you can still be severely deficient (non-anemic iron deficiency) and still have all the symptoms (exhaustion, brain fog, adhd-like symptoms, hair loss, cold all the time, restless legs, etc....). Hemoglobin is the LAST thing to go off the cliff after your iron has been crazy low for a long time and your body has not had enough to function properly. Your ferritin - the iron storage tank tells you much more then your hemoglobin. The body needs iron in every cell, in mitochondria, to make serotonin and dopamine and much more - a million things in the body cant function without iron. When your stores are low- your body saves up every last bit to make hemoglobin (the protein that carries Oxygen around the body in the red blood cells). So you can be wrecked from lack of iron, and your hemoglobin still looks OK. And supplements raise your hemoglobin first, and then help other functions and then slowly fill the storage tank. Don't count on your doctor to tell you - you have to educate yourself if you want to be well.
