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#25 Say Goodbye to Iron Deficiency
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The Bean Talk - Episode 25: Say Goodbye to Iron Deficiency
This week, Riannon and Jeremy dive deep into one of the most common - and often overlooked - health issues we see in clinic: iron deficiency.
From fatigue, breathlessness and brain fog to heavy cycles and pregnancy complications, low iron impacts more than you think. They unpack the hidden reasons behind it - including poor absorption, gut issues, inflammation, and heavy periods - and why iron infusions aren't always the answer.
You'll learn how to spot the signs, what proper testing should include and practical strategies to raise your iron naturally. This episode is packed with simple tips to help you feel like yourself again.
Connect with Riannon and Jeremy on Instagram @mungbean_health, TikTok @mungbean_health, or visit mungbeanhealth.com for expert support.
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Transcript
Introduction to The Bean Talk's Mission
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to The Bean Talk with me, Rhiannon, your fertility fairy godmother, joined by my trusted partner in life and in the mission of Mungbean Health, Jeremy. Here at Mungbean Health, we're on a mission to unlock the secrets of fertility and natural wellbeing one episode at time.
00:00:19
Speaker
Hi guys, and welcome back to The Bean Talk with Rhiannon and Jeremy. Hello. Good to be back. So nice to have you guys.
Understanding Iron Deficiency
00:00:26
Speaker
We want to talk about iron deficiency today.
00:00:30
Speaker
I think this is such a huge topic. We see it all the time in clinic, like it's huge. And there's so many women, especially walking around out there that are feeling like zombies and it's all to do with their iron levels. Yeah.
00:00:43
Speaker
It's not good. And same with a lot of children too. as i Yes. Oh, absolutely. Because, and this is something that I find so interesting is when you have an iron deficiency and then you get pregnant and say your iron goes even lower, what iron are you going to be able to pass on to your baby?
00:00:59
Speaker
then baby's born, baby's low. Children, it's hard to get enough iron in any way because they have so many little quirks with their eating and then they become low. Yeah. But the good news Rewind back. Yeah.
00:01:10
Speaker
Little bean, big bean. Yeah, good news is that there's a lot we can do, which we will chat about today. but absolutely, I was just going to circle back to our little and big bean. Gosh, these are always really rack the brain to see what what have we changed. Forever trying to do better. Yeah.
00:01:28
Speaker
I am waiting on results, actually. I did some testing for myself on this really cool longevity test, which I'll be able to share more about as the time goes on. But just I got one.
00:01:41
Speaker
Otherwise, we probably would have both done, but they're not that easy to get just yet. But it's all about longevity. So ah sent that off. That would be my little bean. Big bean for me would be my TikTok.
00:01:52
Speaker
I've created Among Bean TikTok and I've been trying to share things some amazing information and all the things that I know about fertility and pretty much all about fertility to be honest everything we do and I've been trying to grow that account so if you are on TikTok but you aren't following us yet it is mungbean underscore health m-u-n-g-b-e-a-n underscore health my big bean would be staying on top of
Supplements and Hydration Tips
00:02:16
Speaker
ordering that's a big thing for me for the warehouse yeah That is hard as you're continuing to grow and grow and making sure that we're getting the best. I guess that's one thing that Jeremy and I are always talking about is getting the best supplements. So we do change things at times, which, yes, that is more annoying because then we have to make sure that the practitioners are across it. We have to update in our computer systems.
00:02:36
Speaker
We have to make sure that we're ordering enough, all those things, or Jeremy has to make And the clients need to know what the changes is. Like they're going to order something that's been updated or changed. They haven't ordered in three, six months, whatever the thing is.
00:02:47
Speaker
And they're unaware of the change. And, yeah. But we want the best for you guys. And that is why we are continuing to, yes source the best forever. It'll just be a forever job.
00:02:58
Speaker
Thanks, Jim. Yeah, it's fun. And my little bean would be I'm drinking more water. That is good. With the Hydra Mama helps a lot because, like, I just hate plain water. Like, it's pretty boring, as you can all imagine.
00:03:10
Speaker
But the Hydra Mama, just having one or two or even three of them a day is so helpful for me. Just something... a little bit of flavoring in there they're great they got extra vitamin b a little bit of folate and vitamin c and electrolytes yeah so definitely a big one for me is definitely drinking more fluids love fluids up love that One thing that I have actually been really trying to incorporate throughout the week is slow cookers.
00:03:38
Speaker
Now, I love a slow cooker and I've still got my Nan slow cooker. I hope it never dies because, honestly, it is old. Yeah. But she's still going strong. I will be a sad day when she, you know, when that so slow cooker just carks it. But anyway, actually, that's so funny. Today 20...
00:03:56
Speaker
years since my name passed away how funny you brought her up in here oh miss your nan anyway not what i was getting to but the slow cooker is a beautiful way to create or get extra iron out of the meats because essentially in the slow cooking process it like breaks down the bonds I don't know if I've mentioned this before on here. I was talking to someone else. I don't know. Maybe I've said it before, but it breaks down the bonds for the meat. So beef is the highest and then lamb second.
00:04:29
Speaker
But yeah, breaks it down so your body doesn't have to leach it out because obviously it sits in the slow cooker. for a long time and then it sits in your gut for a long time or a while hours and then yeah and get all that iron out extra iron that's what he needs and wants absolutely so i guess a good thing to note is like iron deficiency for a lot of people is not just a phase it's not just like oh i've got to some low iron let's get on top of that a lot of the time for many especially women it's been tagging along for years and years and making you feel tired you might feel foggy
00:05:03
Speaker
You might be breathless or even worse.
Iron Deficiency Symptoms and Causes
00:05:06
Speaker
Like I have clients, obviously in pregnancy, everything can feel a bit worse, but I'll have clients that are struggling to walk up the stairs. They're out of breath. They're so tired. And if you've got stairs in the house, can't be living like that. Yeah.
00:05:17
Speaker
And just from a simple thing of iron. Yes, I know. All these symptoms and side effects of having low iron is just so detrimental to your health. It can make you feel so bad. Yes. And it's something so easy that can be fixed. And often people will be like, yeah, my mum, she has low iron, so pretty much I'm going to have it. But the good news is it doesn't have to be a lifelong label. Yes.
00:05:37
Speaker
Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiencies worldwide, but here's the catch. It's rarely just about not eating enough iron.
00:05:48
Speaker
There's actually many other factors to it. Right. So let's talk about that. Yeah. In our clinic, I guess the main underlying reasons for low iron would be poor absorption, menstrual losses, struggling with a lot of blood loss, depletion from pregnancy also postpartum breastfeeding.
00:06:06
Speaker
Inflammation can also impact iron and poor supplementation as well. And that can come down to quality. Yeah. Yeah. They ain't all made the same with all supplements, but especially iron. Some big name ones, I won't go into the names, but some of the big ones you can get from the chemist, they are.
00:06:26
Speaker
crappy forms of iron synthetic right yeah yes yeah not even just it being synthetic it's more the forms that they're using they just don't absorb well and they get caught in the gut and they cause a lot of constipation they don't absorb well so you're just paying for constipation yeah that's not nice that exactly that sucks so there's many different steps to correcting your iron deficiency you I guess one of one thing that a lot of women do is go and get an infusion, iron infusion, which can it's amazing that it's there and really important for when we really need it, but I feel like it's over-prescribed and it creates a lot of inflammation in the system, so it's only using it when it's really needed.
00:07:06
Speaker
One would be making sure that we're actually testing and looking. So don't just look at your iron studies like ferritin and iron, although that's very important. We also want to look at hemoglobin.
00:07:16
Speaker
transfer and saturation CRP, which is an inflammatory marker, B12 and folate. In clinic, we do that for you. so you don't have to worry about that. So if you are one of our clients, we would be looking at all of this.
00:07:28
Speaker
When you give us your initial blood that we've asked for, we're checking all over this. And in range doesn't just mean optimal. So ferritin levels can appear normal, air quotation normal, even though they're functionally low.
00:07:42
Speaker
So in our clinic, we are looking for levels that are above 100 for our ferritin for optimal health. Very important. There's also some things as well when you go and get a blood test, don't be sick if you can avoid it. Don't have a cold or flu because that inflammation can actually give us false readings. So sometimes when we have a really weird reading that might be really high or it's jumped up really high since we've spoken to them last but we haven't done much for it, we'll always say, hey, were you sick around that time? Oh, yep, the kids had a bug. Oh, yep, I had.
00:08:10
Speaker
pneumonia or something and it's okay makes sense and definitely important to get the right practitioner as well because not all practitioners are made the same not all practitioners are going to be looking into it i guess like us there are some amazing practitioners out there don't get me wrong but even gps a lot of the time are just looking at ferritin disappointing but it's true yeah um and then when they see the ferritin's low though they haven't looked at hemoglobin crp b12 folate they'll go hey your ferritin's low let's give you this iron infusion Damn.
00:08:41
Speaker
Yeah. And then cause more problems, inflammatory responses in the body. yeah Because if, understand if your haemoglobin's low, then there's nothing for the iron to attach to because it gets transported by the haemoglobin.
00:08:52
Speaker
Yes. So transferrin and hemoglobin both actually play critical roles in the iron transportation and utilizing it in different ways throughout the body, within the body.
00:09:05
Speaker
But the transferrin is the primary protein responsible for transporting iron in the bloodstream, while the hemoglobin is the protein within the red blood cell that actually carries the oxygen.
00:09:18
Speaker
So it's all about pumping that oxygenated blood and iron around the body. So both essential for iron and its transport and use as well.
00:09:30
Speaker
So yeah, really important to look at those factors.
Comprehensive Health and Iron
00:09:33
Speaker
And sometimes hemoglobin will be so low. Like I remember after we lost Winnie and I hemorrhaged and my hemoglobin got down to, it was under 80, 70 something.
00:09:44
Speaker
And that is like, definitely yeah like even get up your head's hurting if you get people at 90 is like way too low we want you to be like over 135 for context and so yeah i couldn't stand up for two days it was horrible but it that's why we always check in on that as well because it's a very important factor we also want to make sure that we are treating the whole body so as we mentioned earlier the diet isn't the only consideration to look at. So yes, important to eat enough, but it's not the only factor. And I'm fine, but not the only factor.
00:10:18
Speaker
We actually need time to treat the whole body and investigate what is linked. So whether it's hormones, gut health, inflammation, etc., We'll test for all of that as well. So if you come to us low iron, you've had low iron for ages, we're going to look into that.
00:10:32
Speaker
And also healing the gut. So once you have worked out what the true cause is, and we start to work on that, getting rid of any gut bugs if necessary, reducing inflammation if necessary, stopping any damage, supporting stomach acid production, increasing that absorption is key.
00:10:49
Speaker
Because you might be eating and taking all the right supplements, but if you've got a gut issue, your body's just not absorbing it at all. So it's just waste of time yeah exactly so yeah there's many other factors than just taking an iron supplement yeah although it is very good and helps us to feel really good when we are really low but yeah and that may be one of the causes yeah why you have low iron so it's a whole body yeah yeah treating the gut, supporting the gut while also getting that iron into you.
00:11:17
Speaker
Yeah, so one thing may not be taking or eating enough iron and then the second one, not absorption. Exactly. So if you don't fix them problems. Yeah, exactly. You're in a bit of trouble. So you can see why there's so many factors. And then if you've got a heavy menstrual bleed...
00:11:31
Speaker
again, just taking yourself back. Or you're pregnant. Yeah, exactly. So there's many different factors. if you come to us with a heavy menstrual bleed, we're not only going to look at iron, but we're also going to look at ways to reduce that heavy bleed. Is that driven by high estrogen or what's the driver there?
00:11:45
Speaker
We have some beautiful herbs that that work on that. Yeah. So many times we've had clients come to us, like one that I can think of where she would just flood with blood and she'd have to sit on a towel horrible and six days to seven days out of every month ridiculous it's only three to three weeks in there that she'd feel good and yeah some beautiful herbs and working on all these factors as well but what is the research showing us about iron deficiency or low iron you also with iron deficiency i guess a good note is the word deficiency so you'll see if you look at your iron
00:12:19
Speaker
tablets or capsules that they'll say on there does not or will not treat an iron deficiency. So when they're talking about an iron deficiency, they're talking about such low levels, like you can't walk. But for us, when we're saying like deficiency, think of it as like a low iron.
00:12:34
Speaker
If you can't walk, you need to go to the hospital and this might be the time for an iron infusion. But yeah, you wouldn't have left it that late anyway, especially in pregnancy because the midwives are always checking on that anyway, or should be.
00:12:45
Speaker
And if you're one of our clients, we'll be checking on that anyway. So poor effectiveness of oral iron is its poor absorption because of these factors. so if you're taking it a supplement and it's not working well, it could be because of these factors.
00:13:02
Speaker
Comorbidity, which could be celiac disease, gastritis, that sort of thing. Certain types of surgery like lap band or weight loss surgery or psychological inhibitory mechanism factors.
00:13:15
Speaker
Also ongoing blood loss can be affecting iron deficiency or low iron. So conditions such as heavy menstrual bleeding or gastrointestinal bleeding, which can lead to continuous iron loss ongoing, counteracting the benefits of iron or supplementation or infusions.
00:13:33
Speaker
So a good thing to look in is that gut. Certain types of inflammatory conditions, so chronic Inflammation, as seen in diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, can increase hepcidin levels, which can actually block the absorption of iron.
00:13:49
Speaker
The elevated hepcidin inhibits the iron absorption and impairs the release of iron from stores, making it difficult to maintain adequate iron levels.
00:14:00
Speaker
That is the reason that a lot of practitioners will say only take iron every second day because it tricks the body because that hepcidin comes up on that day. after you take your supplement. If it comes up the next day, then you sort of allow it to go down and then you take it the following day. So it doesn't block the absorption it allows it in.
00:14:18
Speaker
It's a protective mechanism that blocks that iron absorption, which stops from iron overload because really you should be getting it in food. if you think the way the body so if you're taking a supplement it's a big dose or iron infusion it's a massive dose for your body and it's like the floodgates are like closing to say protect from iron overload if that makes sense yeah that makes sense yeah your body has these things in place to stop you from having too high of iron basically absolutely you're trying to get it up so you are trying to give the body so much iron but it's hang on a second we can only deal with so much like warning yeah
00:14:55
Speaker
Nutritional deficiencies, so diets lacking sufficient iron or those that inhibit iron absorption, can actually prevent the maintenance of iron stores post infusions.
00:15:07
Speaker
So got to be careful of those nutritional deficiencies. Increased psychological demand, so periods of increased iron requirements such as pregnancy, can actually deplete iron stores rapidly because bub needs it all. If intake isn't actually enough, then baby will take it all, which we'd have it no other way. You want your baby to have it, but then you want something for yourself. You need to function.
00:15:31
Speaker
And it's very important to get on top of those levels because as baby grows, baby takes more and more iron. So you've really got to make sure, again, in our preconception cases for clients, we're always working on iron. It's much easier to live before you fall pregnant.
00:15:43
Speaker
If you're already pregnant, then we just do what we can, at least if we can maintain because it does drop quite rapidly. Also, exercise-induced losses. So regular intensive exercise can actually elevate the hepcidin levels so going back to that blocking which can actually reduce the iron absorption and contribute to more of an iron deficiency especially when combined with menstrual blood loss so athletes will struggle they often lose their period altogether to be honest with you and they're under too much stress but hey if you're not getting in enough iron the body's quite stressed then yeah there's going to be issues
00:16:25
Speaker
Inadequate follow-up and maintenance therapy. So without regular monitoring and potential maintenance of iron supplementation, iron deficiency can reoccur even after successful initial treatment. So even after we get those levels up, all the doctors do with an iron infusion, it can just continue to drop. I see it time and time again because you haven't fixed the root cause.
00:16:44
Speaker
Just keep throwing the iron at them and it's not necessarily going to fix the problem. If you keep bleeding really heavy, but then you have an iron infusion, the iron infusion is going to force your levels up.
00:16:55
Speaker
but then it's just going to keep dropping and you'll be back in a year. Yeah, damn. you've got to really fix the other issue.
Enhancing Iron Absorption with Diet
00:17:00
Speaker
But here's some everyday tips of iron support. So definitely optimizing iron absorption with pairing foods is a good one. So pair iron-rich foods with vitamin C. So with your supplement, if you're taking a supplement, then definitely have it with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.
00:17:16
Speaker
That's always easy to do, right? Yeah, that's easy. to do If you pair the two together, so vitamin C actually enhances the non-heme iron absorption, so the plant-based iron. So good combinations here would be spinach and lemon juice, lentils and bell peppers or capsicums, oats and strawberries, yum, tofu and broccoli, and chickpeas and tomatoes.
00:17:38
Speaker
Like they all go well together as well. yeah Add them in together. Avoid calcium with iron-rich meals. as calcium actually competes with iron for absorption. Again, with supplementation with our clients, we often have the pregnant ones on iron and calcium so we do ends separate ends of the day so they don't compete with the absorption so if you are eating dairy like milk cheese yogurt really try to avoid having them at the same time as iron rich meals or have calcium supplements away so i usually do ends of different ends of day but if it's just food wise like two hours so if you're having say you love having steak and ice cream yeah like you have a steak for yes and then you have ice cream at least by two hours yeah Because that would be a normal thing to do. if you're having like an iron supplement and then you have coffee with milk in it, so at least two hours. Yeah.
00:18:28
Speaker
So you can substitute your dairy cow's milk for oat milk then, right? Yeah. Oat milk trying to try and avoid seed oils. Okay. Yeah. But yeah, because that can be inflammatory, but it's, yeah. Yeah, a tricky one. I know. But you can get some good ones that are seed oil free. Yeah.
00:18:43
Speaker
Again, back to coffee, you want to avoid tea and coffee with iron-rich meals or your iron supplement because the tannins that are in the tea and coffee actually bind to iron. Wow. Reducing absorption, so best to... Bless you.
00:18:58
Speaker
ah thought was too lazy. It's better to drink gum. Reducing absorption, so best to drink them at least one to two hours after meal So really important. And same with red wine. So don't be having your iron supplement with red wine.
00:19:11
Speaker
Steak and red wine, though, that does go quite well together. But if it's not happening all the time, then you'll be right. Cooking appliances that boost iron levels. Yeah, so it's a bit of a hack there. You can definitely be using certain types of cookware that will help with the absorption.
00:19:27
Speaker
Yep. The use of cast iron cookware. Cooking acid foods like tomato sauce, chili or lemon-based dishes in cast iron increases iron content. A study actually found that cooking in cast iron increased iron content by up to 16% in some foods. Wow, that's good.
00:19:43
Speaker
do Which is amazing. Use an iron fish or iron leaf. Yes. It's like these cool little things where you place it in the dish and it gives out iron. Oh, cool. It's almost like a little, they've just made it into a fish or a leaf, so it looks cute, but it's like the cast iron in there. So if you don't have a cast iron skillet, you can just buy this iron thing and pop it in the dish and it just cooks with it, I'm guessing, and it releases iron. Placing an iron fish or an iron leaf in boiling water, soups or stews releases bioavailable iron into food.
00:20:14
Speaker
Better when used with acidic ingredients, again, like lemon, vinegar, or tomatoes to help iron leach into the foods, which is cool. Choose iron-rich foods, both heme and non-heme. Yes.
00:20:27
Speaker
Heme iron, best absorbed found in animal products, absorbed two to three times better than plant iron. Red meat, beef, lamb, venison, liver, chicken, beef, pork, poultry, dark meat, chicken, turkey, thighs, and seafood.
00:20:43
Speaker
Oysters, clams, mussels, sardines, tuna. Yum. Yeah, I love all them things. Yeah, know. And then non-heme, which is plant-sourced, They actually need the vitamin C for better absorption. I still like it with the heme, but you know, with the non heme it's better because they need more help.
00:20:59
Speaker
So dark leafy greens. So spinach, kale, Swiss chard, you've got legumes like chickpeas, lentils, soybeans. black beans, and you've got tofu and tempeh. I usually prefer tempeh. Quinoa, amaranth, oats, pumpkin, sesame and chia seeds, and dried fruit like apricots, raisins, and prunes.
00:21:19
Speaker
It's actually why I put the apricots into Evie's lunchbox mostly. They're good. She likes them, and they've actually got some of that non-heme in there, which is great. I'm trying to get it into her before she gets old enough to menstruate.
00:21:31
Speaker
How good Fermented grains and legumes, soaking, sprouting or fermenting reduce phthalates, which block iron absorption. Yep, so doing those processes can help.
00:21:43
Speaker
Opt for sourdough bread, sprouted lentils, beans or quinoa and miso, tempeh. Natto? Yeah, which is a fermented soy. Okay. What's that other one? Tamari? Would that be a fermented soy? tamari is the soy sauce. Yeah. yeah yeah It's good.
00:21:58
Speaker
Nice. Apple cider vinegar before meals is a great little hack as it helps to increase stomach acid, which improves iron absorption. It's also great for blood sugar levels, great for your digestion, which is a good little all-rounder.
00:22:12
Speaker
Reducing inflammation to support iron uptake is crucial. Look, reducing inflammation is key for everything in your health. Reducing inflammation because the inflammation is the key or the driver of many diseases. Yeah, it's good for around all, but really good for our iron levels. So chronic inflammation actually raises that hepcidin, which blocks the iron absorption.
00:22:32
Speaker
So making sure that we're having foods like omega-3 rich foods like salmon, wild caught if you can, flax seeds, walnuts. Turmeric is great with black pepper. So turmeric or curcumin, the active ingredient turmeric actually lowers that hepcidin. But making sure you put some black pepper in there on the food helps with the absorption.
00:22:53
Speaker
Ginger and garlic, gosh, what's not to love about those? They reduce inflammation, improve circulation. And don't forget bone broth. It's so easy to get now organic pre-made bone broth. It's actually good quality. You don't have to slave in the kitchen for eight hours, but you also can because that is also a great option to do. But if you don't have the time, then you can just get it from like pre-made.
00:23:14
Speaker
It actually helps with gut health and helps with iron absorption as well. So there's some things you can start to include in your weekly shop.
How to Get Help with Iron Levels
00:23:24
Speaker
But yeah, iron is crucial to the live. So if you're feeling like you've got some of those symptoms of really fatigued, you're feeling foggy, breathlessness, really struggling, even worse on cycle, if you're pregnant and you know your levels are lower than optimal, then please reach out. We'd love to help you.
00:23:43
Speaker
help so many women, especially in clinic with their low iron levels, obviously being in the fertility space. And if you need any support, please reach out. Yeah, reach out to us at www.mungbeanhealth.com.
00:23:55
Speaker
Go through our website. We've got some great iron products there that to purchase straight off the website. Or if you're looking for a more in-depth one, you can visit us on Instagram at mungbeanhealth. Yep, which is mungbean underscore health. So M-U-N-G-B-E-A-N underscore health.
00:24:11
Speaker
Or you can find us on TikTok, which is the same, mungbean underscore health. And we can't wait to help you. you later. Thanks for joining. Bye.
00:24:30
Speaker
And that's a wrap on today's dose of wellness. I'm Rhiannon, your fertility fairy godmother. Thank you for joining us. Stay connected with us on Instagram at mungbin underscore health.