Where Do You Get Iron on a Vegan Diet?
“Where do you get your iron, calcium or protein?” is a frequent question for those on a vegan diet. Well, the same place as gorillas, elephants, the grumpy extinct aurochs, brontosaurus and Argentinosaurus – the largest ever land animal weighing more than 15 elephants. From eating plants.
Heme is a complex ring molecule with a central iron atom with four pyrrole rings and two vinyl groups. A pyrrole group is a five-ring group C4H4NH. A vinyl group has a formula CH=CH2. It is a key component of haemoglobin. It is found in the blood of animals.
It is absorbed by human bodies more rapidly than non-haem iron which is found in plants.
Absorbing a substance faster does not make it better – especially if it is detrimental.
The following observations are from a 2002 presentantaion at the 10th Intenational Conference on Bioinorganic Chemistry. 2
- Iron is both essential and potentially harmful. Iron is both essential and potentially harmful. Its toxicity arises as it creates free radicals and it is required as a growth factor for pathogenic bacteria, fungi, protozoa and all neoplastic cells. Excess iron also conflicts with the absorption of copper.
- Iron supplementation may have adverse effects on the gastrointestinal tract, mainly on the intestinal microbiota.
- Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), are chronic, relapsing inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
- Interactions between the environmental factors and commensal intestinal microflora in genetically predisposed individuals are considered the leading cause of an inappropriate immune response and as a result, the development of inflammatory disease.
- Anaemia is believed to affect one-third of the IBD patients.
- Oral iron administration can cause side effects due to a large amount of non-absorbed iron (about 90%) remaining in the intestines, including gastroduodenitis, nausea, bloating, vomiting, dyspepsia, constipation, diarrhoea, abdominal pain or darkening of the stools.
- Experimental evidence suggests that excessive iron in the lumen may be also harmful to the intestinal mucous membrane.
- Oral iron supplementation contributes to lipid peroxidation of cellular membranes and disrupts energy processes in the cell due to mitochondrial damage, as well as promoting endoplasmic reticulum dysfunction.
- Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer globally and the second major cause of mortality (935,000 deaths in 2020). It affects mainly older adults from highly developed countries, as it is a multifactorial disease closely associated with lifestyle and risk factors like obesity, lack of physical activity, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking or low fibre, fruit and vegetable supply.
- The American Cancer Society estimates the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is about 4.3% for men and 4% for women.
- Increasing research indicates that iron supplementation and the resulting changes in the composition of the intestinal microbiota are essential factors causing colorectal cancer development.
- ID occurs as the disease progresses due to frequent bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract.
- Oral iron supplementation is not recommended due to contributing to the progression of CRC, as it increases the iron concentration in the colon and causes significant gastrointestinal side effects such as diarrhoea, constipation, nausea or abdominal pain.
- Numerous studies confirming that obese individuals are characterised by a lower iron concentration when compared to people of a normal body weight. [Consequentially], iron deficiency often accompanies obesity, with many studies showing a negative correlation between body mass index (BMI) and serum iron levels.
- In animals which had been loaded with aluminium gluconate, significant increases in brain iron content were also found, notably in various parts of the cerebral cortex (from four- to ninefold) and the hippocampus (fourfold) compared to untreated controls.
- Aluminium contents varied from 14 to 25 μg/g wet weight in the cerebral cortex to 37 μg/g in the hippocampus. The results of aluminium chelation were significantly greater than for iron.
- Note: Chelation agents bind to toxic metals so they can be eliminated through urine.
Aluminium Toxicity and Iron
Christopher Exley, a chemist from Keele University, has 242 publications recorded across 38 years, from 1988 to 2025. He has written extensively on the detrimental health effects of aluminium exposure. Aluminum is a non-essential metal to human life and is an environmental toxin. Aluminium triggers immune responses which contribute to chronic systemic inflammation development.
Silicic acid significantly facilitates the removal of lead from the brain whilst ensuring that essential metals, such as iron, are unaffected. 3
Calcium and Iron
Calcium has been shown to reduce the absorption of iron and zinc. 4 ~ 5
Last updated on Monday 2 November 2026 at 13:48 by administrators
Post Type: postFootnotes
- Malesza, I. J. et al. (2022) The Dark Side of Iron: The Relationship between Iron, Inflammation and Gut Microbiota in Selected Diseases Associated with Iron Deficiency Anaemia-A Narrative Review. Nutrients. 14 (17), .
- Crichton, R. R. et al. (2002) Molecular and cellular mechanisms of iron homeostasis and toxicity in mammalian cells. Contributions from the 10th Intenational Conference on Bioinorganic Chemistry. 91 (1), 9–18.
- Exley, C. et al. (2006) Non-invasive therapy to reduce the body burden of aluminium in Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s disease : JAD. 10 (1), 17–24.
- Fairweather-Tait, S. J. (1995) Iron–zinc and calcium–Fe interactions in relation to Zn and Fe absorption. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 54 (2), 465–473.
- Lönnerdal, B. (2010) Calcium and iron absorption—mechanisms and public health relevance. International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research. 80 (4), 293.
Discover why researchers, popular commentators and the food industry is more concerned with maintaining corporate profits than ensuring that we have valid health information.Who is going to get wealthy by encouraging people to eat their fruit and vegetables?
Featured Posts
Why Consume a WFPB Diet?Brief Overview of WFPB Diets
Introduction to Wise Nutrition Coaching
Introduction to Sex-hormonal Related Cancers and Endometriosis
Where do You Get Your Protein?
The Problem with Cow's Milk
Breast, Endometrium and Ovarian Cancers
Eating Red Meat is Not Natural
Taiwan, Buddhists and Moderation
Autoimmune Diseases, Biomimicry and Type 1 Diabetes
Glucose Tolerance
7th-day Adventists and Health
Worried about eating eggs?
How Cooking Changed Us
Deception from The BMJ
Endometriosis is Curable
Changes to our Health Indicators
Cause of Type 2 Diabetes
DNA, Genetics and Epigenetics
The Myth of Good and Bad Cholesterol
The Traditional Diet of Inuit
Wheat and the Distorted Views of William Davis
Vegan Starter Kit
