3 Facts about Iron

1. Your body doesn’t produce its own iron and so it must be ingested

It’s true. The only way to get an adequate amount of iron into your body is to consume it as part of a balanced and healthy diet. Also, the body loses iron through a number of ways from sweat to exfoliation to excretion, and even menstruation. Below you’ll see how much iron you need each day to stay healthy¹

• Women aged 19-50 need 14.8mg of iron per day
• Pregnant women* need 27mg of iron per day
• Women aged 50+ need 8.7mg of iron per day
• Men aged over 19 need 8.7 mg of iron per day

 *Always speak to your doctor if you are pregnant before taking any supplements.

2. Iron helps transport oxygen throughout the body

Iron plays an important role in heme synthesis which forms haemoglobin. Haemoglobin carries oxygen from the lungs across your entire body. As haemoglobin accounts for 66% of all iron in the human bloodstream, adequate iron levels are crucial for ensuring that our bodies are properly oxygenated.

3. Iron is an important mineral during pregnancy

The average adult woman needs more than two times the iron a man needs to stay healthy, and this requirement almost doubles when she’s pregnant. This is because a pregnant woman’s body needs iron to make blood for both herself and her baby, and to oxygenate them both too. Iron is crucial for the human body to run effectively, see www.spatone.com to find out more about the role of iron in the human body.  

1 https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/iron/