Iron-deficient patients need 100 to 200mg of elemental iron, but product labels can be deceptive
Iron-deficient patients need 100 to 200mg of elemental iron, but product labels can be deceptive.
“The iron preparations that have sufficient [iron] are very small in number,” says Dr Pradeep Jayasuriya, a GP and the past director of research at the RACGP in WA.
Many commonly marketed herbal products in pharmacies do not have enough iron, he says.
“I just had a patient … who came in to see me and their chiropractor told them to take some iron supplements,” continues Dr Jayasuriya.
“And when you interrogated it turned out that that iron supplement only had 4mg of iron. That meant that for them to get a decent dose they needed 20 times the dose, which is A) very expensive and, B) makes it intolerable.”
Dr Jayasuriya said patients who say they are taking iron supplements may not be using a product with high iron concentration.
In this video, Dr Jayasuriya looks at these questions:
– How much oral iron is suggested for mild deficiency?
– How can intravenous iron replacement be arranged in general practice?
