Everyone knows that iron participates in the formation and maturation of red blood cells, mainly in hemoglobin, and plays an important physiological function. However, the lack of nutrient iron is still a common problem for urban and rural residents in China. First of all, it is determined by physiological characteristics: adolescent girls grow vigorously, the body has a large demand for iron, and with menstruation, they are prone to iron deficiency anemia. During pregnancy and lactation, women need to provide nutrients for their fetuses or infants, and their demand for iron is also greatly increased; The elderly women's gastrointestinal absorption function declines, and the hematopoietic function weakens, which can also lead to anemia. Secondly, the diet of urban and rural residents in China is still dominated by plant food, supplemented by animal food.
Chinese adult women aged 18-50 need 20 mg of iron every day, and those over 50 need 15 mg of iron every day. The more iron, the better. Excessive intake can lead to acute poisoning. The main symptoms are epigastric discomfort, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal bleeding symptoms. In severe cases, acute intestinal necrosis, shock and death may occur. Chronic poisoning is mainly caused by organ fibrosis. There is a large amount of iron deposition in the liver and spleen, which can be manifested as cirrhosis, osteoporosis, etc. Therefore, do not exceed 50mg per day.
It is necessary for us to understand the iron in our bodies and in food.
There are two forms of iron in human body, one is "functional iron", which mainly exists in hemoglobin, myoglobin and iron containing enzymes; The second is "storage of iron", such as ferritin, hemosiderin, etc., which is stored in the liver and bone marrow. All forms of iron in the body bind to proteins.
Iron in food can also be divided into two forms: heme iron and non heme iron. The absorption and utilization rate of heme iron in meat is as high as 15% - 20%, while the absorption and utilization rate of plant non heme iron is less than 5%.
As we all know, the main sources of iron are animal blood, liver and red meat. The iron in these foods mainly exists in the form of heme iron, which is easy to be absorbed and utilized by the human body. Dark colored vegetables such as green leafy vegetables also contain rich iron, but their absorption is poor.
Is that what people used to do? for instance:
1. Use spinach to supplement iron
The older generation likes to supplement iron with spinach, but according to the Chinese Food Composition Table, every 100g spinach contains 2.9mg iron. The iron in spinach is non heme iron, which is difficult to absorb and is also affected by oxalic acid. Because spinach itself contains a large amount of oxalic acid, 606mg oxalic acid is contained in every 100g spinach, and oxalic acid inhibits the absorption of iron, resulting in the absorption rate of iron in spinach is only 1.3%, so eating spinach can not supplement much iron. Although the oxalic acid of spinach decreased after blanching, the content was still high. It not only interferes with the absorption of iron in spinach, but also interferes with the absorption of non heme iron in other foods. Therefore, spinach is not a good choice for iron supplementation. However, it is still a nutrient rich food, which contains a variety of vitamins and minerals, especially VA, VC, VE, folate, VK, and magnesium, and is rich in lutein and flavonoids. It is a recommended food, but not a good choice for iron supplementation.
2. The Internet is now frying "cherries", saying that cherries are high iron fruits, which can prevent anemia, and anti anemia cherries are good for enriching blood.
It is described on the Internet as follows: "Cherries are rich in iron, which is an excellent fruit for women to supplement iron", "Cherries have been called" beauty fruit "since ancient times, and ancient Chinese medicine books say that they can" moisturize the skin "," make the skin look good and beautiful "," eating often can make the skin more smooth and moist " "Cherries are extremely rich in iron. The iron content in each hundred grams of pulp is 6 times that of strawberries, 10 times that of dates, 13 times that of hawthorn, and 20 times that of apples, ranking first among all kinds of fruits.".
If you have studied nutrition or have some knowledge of nutrition, you won't think so, because we have rigorous scientific data. By consulting the Table of Chinese Food Ingredients, we can see that:
According to these data, what is said on the Internet is not actually based. We should believe in scientific data and not be confused by some conceptual discourse.
It can be clearly seen from the table that every 100g cherry contains 0.4mg iron, strawberry 1.8mg, jujube (dried) 2.3mg, hawthorn 0.9mg Apple is 0.6mg, so the data on the network will be broken.
So we must have a pair of eyes to distinguish right from wrong. Learn to question and think, so that we can judge correctly.
reference material:
[1] Prepared by China Employment Training Technical Guidance Center Public nutritionist [M]. Beijing: China Labor and Social Security Press, 2007
[2] Wang Xingguo, Fan Zhihong It's easy to eat healthy [M]. Beijing: People's Military Medical Publishing House, April 2010
[3] Yang Yuexin Food Health Treasure [M]. Beijing: Science and Technology Press, 2009.1
