WHICH IS THE BEST IRON SUPPLEMENT?
Which iron supplement is the best?
The answer is simple: the one that you can comfortably take. Some of the critical factors that may determine your choice are cost, results, side effects and compliance.
Instead of cost, consider cost-effectiveness. Some iron pills may be cheap but if they have poor absorption, you may not get results you are looking for. If you consider cost-effectiveness, you look into the price as well as the absorption of iron. Iron supplements are recommended with vitamin C or orange juice to increase iron absorption so make sure you have orange juice available each time you take iron pills otherwise you may not get the best results.
How good are iron pills (or any medication for that matter) if you can not continue to take them due to side effects. Iron pills may cause constipation or other GI side effects so if you experience them, talk to your health care professional to try another option.
Heme-iron supplements are made from the BLOOD of cow and pigs, yes not from the meat portion but from the blood. They are recommended up to 3 times a day as they contain very low quantity of iron. This may make heme-iron pills an inconvenient option as you may tend to forget to take them. Additionally, they may cost two to three times the other options so you may want to ask: is it worth the money and do I have an alternative option to save money?
EBMfer iron supplements are available as vegetarian or vegan friendly capsules and raspberry flavoured great tasting iron liquid. It contains ferrous ascorbate that offers built-in advantage of vitamin C and hence increased iron absorption without having to take with vitamin C or orange juice. Due to once-daily dosing, EBMfer offers potentially good patience compliance and cost-effectiveness. Gelatin free is an additional advantage that may be important to vegans and vegetarians.
Make regular visits to your doctor and check the effectiveness of iron therapy you are on. Ask your doctor to change the therapy if your current iron therapy is ineffective or giving you side effects that you cannot tolerate.