Iron-Rich Foods and How to Absorb Them

Iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency in Australia, and it falls disproportionately on women of reproductive age, vegetarians and vegans, endurance athletes and anyone with heavy periods. It's also frequently missed, because the early symptoms — tiredness, poor concentration, feeling cold, getting out of breath on stairs — are easy to attribute to a busy life.

This guide covers how much you need, which foods actually deliver it, and the absorption rules that make a much bigger difference than most people realise.

How much iron do you need?

Australia's NHMRC Recommended Dietary Intakes differ sharply by sex and age, more than for almost any other nutrient:

Two figures deserve attention. A woman aged 19–50 needs more than twice what a man of the same age does, because of menstrual losses — which is the whole explanation for why deficiency clusters in that group. And the requirement drops to 8 mg after menopause, so a supplement that made sense at 40 may not at 55.

Haem and non-haem iron

This distinction matters more than the milligram counts on a label.

• Haem iron comes from animal flesh — red meat, poultry, fish. Roughly 15–35% is absorbed, and absorption is relatively unaffected by what else is on the plate.
• Non-haem iron comes from plants, eggs and fortified foods. Only about 2–20% is absorbed, and that figure swings enormously depending on what you eat alongside it.

This is why the RDI is up to 80% higher for vegetarians and vegans — not because plant foods lack iron, but because less of it gets in. It's also why the absorption section below is the most useful part of this page for anyone eating mostly plants.

Iron-rich foods, by the numbers

Haem sources

Non-haem sources

Note that fortified breakfast cereal often out-delivers steak on paper — but it's non-haem, so far less of it is absorbed. Read those two tables with the absorption percentages in mind.

The absorption rules that actually change outcomes

Helps absorption:

• Vitamin C in the same meal
• A small amount of meat, fish or poultry alongside plant sources — the "meat factor" boosts non-haem absorption
• Soaking, sprouting or fermenting legumes and grains, which breaks down phytates
• Cooking in cast iron, particularly acidic dishes

Blocks absorption:

• Tea and coffee — polyphenols can cut absorption substantially. A cup of tea with a meal is one of the most common self-inflicted problems here. Leave an hour either side.
• Calcium, including dairy and supplements — separate them from your main iron meal
• Phytates in wholegrains and legumes (mitigated by soaking and cooking)
• Excess zinc from supplements, which competes for the same transporter

Get tested rather than guessing

Ask your GP for ferritin (your iron stores) alongside a full blood count. Ferritin falls well before haemoglobin does, so you can be iron deficient — with all the fatigue that implies — while your haemoglobin is still normal. That's iron deficiency without anaemia, and it's frequently missed if only a full blood count is ordered.

If your ferritin is low, your GP will advise on dose and form. Every-other-day dosing is often better absorbed and better tolerated than daily, and iron supplements are notorious for constipation — worth raising if it's putting you off.

Where to start

If you're tired most days and haven't been tested, get ferritin checked before changing anything. If you eat mostly plants, the highest-leverage change isn't eating more iron — it's adding vitamin C to the meals that already contain it, and moving your tea away from mealtimes.

Iron sits alongside calcium as the two nutrients Australians most commonly fall short on — see calcium-rich foods, and the Australian Dietary Guidelines for the wider picture.