happy food - question series begins

Hey guys!

So since I don't normally have a huge pile of questions/comments rolling into my comment boxes here (hehee... you can take that as a hint! :) - I thought I could start a series of those questions I get asked about nutrition in real life. I will keep the answers quite short, at least in the beginning - cause I think many people are so confused about nutrition because of the fact that it has become just too damn complicated. And you can always state your case using fancy words and latin names but the idea is still the same, even with a slighly easier-to-read answer-type.

So the latest question I got was from a friend yesterday - and the question was about iron. She wanted to know if iron from plant-based sources is as easy for the body to absorb as the iron from animal-based sources. Here's what I answered (though not in these exact words, hehe... this is the more professional answer for you guys) :

It is true that the iron in animal products is a bit different (heme iron) than the iron in plant-based sources (non-heme iron) and easier for the body to absorb on its own than the iron from plant-based sources. BUT Vitamin C (as well as beta-carotene) acts to markedly increase absoprtion of non-heme iron. Adding vitamin C to a meal increases non-heme absorption up to six-fold which makes the absorption as good or better than of heme iron.

And just one more thing: Calcium strongly inhibits iron absorption from both plant and animal iron sources. So for example milk can have a negative effect on the absorption of the iron in the body, which may be the cause of anemia in some cases. (so if you take calcium supplements, take them between meals.)

The daily iron-dose should not be over 60 mg.

So that is the first question in this Happy food-question series... If you have a question, just post it to the comment box or send it to my e-mail. Or if you would like to have more information about iron or something else I mentioned here, just message me to wellabe@gmail.com