Non Heme Iron Is Found In Both Animal And Plant Based Foods

Heme irons are absent in the plant foods.

Non heme iron is found in both animal and plant based foods. There are two sources of dietary iron. Non heme iron the kind found in plants is the first type. Heme iron found in animal blood and muscle and non heme iron found in plants. All sources of iron are not created equally.

Some may think that people who eat a whole food plant based diet would be more prone to suffer from iron deficiency but the data shows they are no more. Non heme iron can be regulated by our digestive systems. Coenzyme and helps to synthesis dna. Foods rich in heme iron can improve the absorption of non heme iron.

Plant based foods only contain non heme. The most abundant dietary iron is non heme iron. Heme iron is found only in animal foods while non heme iron is found in both animal and plant foods. Heme iron is more bioavailable than non heme iron which means that the iron you obtain from your plant based diet will not have the same degree of absorption of iron coming from the hemoglobin and myoglobin found in the blood and muscles of animal products.

Found mostly in plants it doesn t bind to carrier proteins. Heme iron in animal foods vs non heme iron in a whole food plant based diet. But don t make the mistake of assuming it s only in plants. Non heme iron is found in both animal based and plant based foods 100 of the iron in plants is non heme and about 60 of the iron in meat poultry and fish.

The main difference between the two is that heme iron is absorbed faster than plant iron. Folic acid folate deficiency vit b 12 colbalamin deficienvy. Thus if our iron stores are low our intestines enhance its absorption. Iron is stored in the body as ferritin in the liver spleen muscle tissue and bone marrow and is delivered throughout the body by transferrin a protein in blood that binds to iron.

Heme iron is the kind found in meats. Found in both plant and animal foods. Plant foods contain only non heme iron. It s easy to assume that iron only exists in meats but there s plenty more where that came from.

Normally 60 of non heme. Non heme iron is also found in animal flesh as animals consume plant foods with non heme iron and fortified foods.