Iron

Ideally, a healthy diet should give you sufficient iron to cope with the demands of pregnancy, but as the body can only store a certain amount at any one time, it’s crucial you eat enough iron rich foods before you conceive and while you’re pregnant.

If you have low iron levels at the start of your pregnancy, you may need to take additional iron supplements to ensure adequate amounts are available for you and your baby.

Why is iron important?

Iron is best known for the part it plays in helping red blood cells transport oxygen around the body as an essential element in haemoglobin. Indeed, almost two thirds of all the body’s iron is found in the blood.

However, it has other, equally important roles to play.

It helps protect us from infection and if we become short of iron, we can very quickly become tired and weak. Such iron deficiency, or ‘anaemia’ often develops slowly and can be hard to detect without tests.

Which foods are rich in iron?

There are two kinds of iron found in foods; haem, which is readily absorbed by the body, and non-haem, which has a slightly different chemical structure and is less easily absorbed.

Good sources of haem iron include liver, lean red meat, chicken, fish, shellfish and eggs.

Non-haem iron can be found in dairy products, wholegrains, beans, pulses and lentils, brown rice, dried fruit, broccoli, spinach and asparagus.

If you are a vegetarian or vegan, then obviously your choices are limited to foods containing less readily absorbed non-haem iron. Including plenty of vitamin C rich fresh fruit and veg in your diet, however, can significantly increase your uptake of non-haem iron.