Poor intake...
- A heavy reliance on highly processed food
- Fad diets
- New inexperienced vegetarians & vegans
- Poverty
Poor Absorbtion - incompatible foods...
- Tea - Tannin in tea binds iron very effectively
- Wine - Tannin (same as tea)
- Dairy - Calcium can inhibit iron absorption
- Phytates - In raw cereal can inhibit iron absorption
- Phosphates - In soft drinks can inhibit iron absorption
Tip...
Keep things in perspective!
If you are iron insufficient, there is usually no need to completely cut out any of your favourite foods. Just leaving a 30 min to an one hour gap between having iron foods and iron inhibiting food or drugs can potentially increase the amount of iron you absorb considerably.