I have low haemoglobin. One of my friends advised be to eat chicken liver. Will it help me?

Organ meat is rich in minerals and vitamins and it is a good food. It contains iron and vitamin B12. These are good for the production of more haemoglobin.

If the liver meat is from the free-running animal it is a very good food. These hen and cock eat natural food. But the hen from the mass production gets animal feed and may also get medicines like antibiotics. In this case it is not advisable to eat this liver. Only if this liver is available eat only 30 to 40 g per day and three times a week. Continue this for 3 to 4 weeks.

This is also applicable to lamb liver also. In my diet plans I recommend liver meat because they contain lot of zinc and selenium.

Liver meat contains cholesterol. 100 g edible liver meat contains 490 mg cholesterol. A good dietician can accommodate liver meat in your food without any problem.

Could you please tell me very shortly how to increase iron (Haemoglobin) status with help of food for vegetarians as well as for non-vegetarians?

It is very easy. Eat everyday 4 to 5 servings all vegetables and fruits which have red colour.

Red meat contains lot of iron with good bioavailability. If you are a vegetarian, then leave red meat and eat more red vegetables and fruits.

400 g vegetables and 400 g fruits are the minimum.

Haemoglobin levels must be above 14.5 g/dl and this is optimum. During pregnancy you need more iron.

Eat regularly healthy food and there will be no iron deficiency.

If you are a vegetarian consult with your doctor for vitamin B12 supplement. Never take iron tablets for a long period. Too much of iron is deposited in muscles and produce many dangerous hydroxyl free radicals through Fenton’s chemical reaction.

Avoid cucumber and tea.

Q&A Series 1: Woman, 47 years old, vegetarian – Problems: hair loss, fatigue, iron supplementation, arthrities…

Thank you. You are the first person who sends a question. With the limited available information I would like to comment your health problems.

Whether you are in your twenty's or forty's your food intake is very important. Healthy food does not always mean healthy to you. Here your doctor or dietician could help you to find the correct food.

For hair loss no supplement will help. The right food will help you. Too much of protein will have the negative effect here. Olive oil oil is good to stop hair loss.

It seems you are taking iron supplementation for a long time. It is not correct. Iron supplement could be taken 14 days to 3 months and not more. The excess iron that you absorb will not be converted into haemoglobin. It is deposited in your heart and other muscles. Our body temperature and the water present can rust the iron and with Fenton’s reaction iron produces too many dangerous hydroxyl free radicals. Iron concentration, thus the haemoglobin must be increased through food only.

The reason for your fatigue may be the low iron and thus the low haemoglobin levels. The oxygen supply to your cells are not optimum. This is the reason why you need 10 to 12 hours sleep. After your long sleep you may become tired after few hours.

You can be a vegetarian. Are you eating enough legumes, pulses, beans, nuts and seeds? At least 400 g vegetables and 400 g fruits must be eaten every day, in 3 to 4 servings. Tofu and soja milk are healthy, but rich in protein. With curd you have a milk product also. Here, the protein intake is too high. This has two disadvantages. Protein makes the body acidic and this makes more calcium to excrete from your body. Excess intake of protein increases the uric acid values in your blood. So what you have may not be arthritis but may be gout. Here consult your doctor.

At first you have to change your food and this will help you surely. If you have the right food and health you need not worry about your coming menopause.

Drink 4 to 6 litres of fluids per day and 70% must be pure drinking water. Avoid cola drinks.

These are the comments what I could make from the information that I got your letter. It is great that you have written but the information is still too little to say many concrete things. Here a metabolism based individual diet plan will be the right one for you.

I am waiting still from our members the filled analysis form and the 14 days food and fluid intake information. After that I wanted to select 5 persons to write their metabolism based individual diet plan free of cost. I don’t know whether you are doing that.

What are the nutrients in the egg?

Eggs are one of the best foods available in this world.
The nutrients in 100 g edible egg include:

• Water 74.4 g
• Protein 12.8 g
• Fat 11.3 g
• Carbohydrate 0.7 g
• Minerals 1 g – sodium 145 mg, magnesium 12 mg calcium 55 mg, iron 2000 micro g, zinc 1300 micro g
• Vitamins A, D, E, K, B2, B6, nicotine amide, pantothenic acid, biotin, folic acid (65 micro g), vitamins B12 and C are present.
• Cholesterol 395 mg
• Lecithin – 2700 mg

Egg is a very good food and it is one of the best to increase the iron and thus haemoglobin content.

Iron and its deficiency

Iron is an essential element for human beings and is vital for the production of red blood cells. Haemoglobin present in the red blood cells transports oxygen to cells and carbon dioxide back to the lungs. Periods of rapid growth, blood loss due to menstruation or loss in the intestinal tract, less iron in the diet, poor iron absorption and poverty are the main reasons for the iron deficiency.

Healthy persons absorb about 5 to 10% of dietary iron and the iron deficient absorbs about 10 to 20%. Vitamin C enhances the absorption of iron. Oxalates, phytates and tannins from the vegetables decrease the absorption of iron. Therefore, iron is poorly absorbed from wheat germ, lima beans, spinach and beet greens.

Iron absorption from carrots, potatoes, beet roots, pumpkin, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage and turnips are good because these vegetables contain substantial amount of malic, citric or ascorbic acids which can help iron absorption. Iron absorption is enhanced by inclusion of red meat, poultry, fish and eggs.

Too much of calcium inhibits the absorption of iron so that calcium supplement should be taken in between two meals. Meals that include principally pizza, hamburger, spaghetti and cheese result in poor iron absorption.

An estimated 40% of world’s population, mainly women are the sufferers of iron deficiency. Environmental illness can cause iron deficiency. In India where hookworm disease is prevalent and vegetarianism is mandated by religion, iron deficiency is very common. Keep always in mind that too much of iron from the tablets deposited in the organs is more dangerous than light deficiency.

What is the reason that one should not take iron tablets for long time? Excess iron which could not be used for the production of red blood cells will be deposited in the heart and other organs. Our body temperature and enough water make it to rust there. In this process uncontrolled amounts of free radicals are formed by the Fenton’s reaction. Free radicals are necessary to fight and kill the bacteria and virus but too much of them destroy body’s healthy cells, thus the organs.

Iron is a poisonous metal and the iron tablets should be kept away from the reach of the children. Excess can harm the health of the children.