Iron deficiency is considered the most common
nutrient deficiency in the world. In the United
States, up to 1 in 25 menstruating women are so
iron deficient that their bodies can't produce
enough blood and they become anemic.
The iron in animal blood is generally absorbed
better in the digestive tract than the iron in
plants, so there was a concern that people who
didn't eat or drink blood - vegetarians -- would
have higher rates of iron deficiency anemia.
Thankfully the concern was unfounded, as
vegetarians have been shown to generally have the
same rates of iron deficiency anemia as
blood-eaters.
The latest from the German Vegan Study was just
published and showed that 4% of vegan women had
iron deficiency anemia,[13] the same rate of
anemia we see generally here in the U.S.[14] But
just because vegans don't have worse rates than
meateaters here doesn't mean much, because
meateaters have such crappy rates in the first
place.
All menstruating women, vegan or not, should be
screened for anemia between 15 and 25 years of
age. They should then consider getting rescreened
once every 5 to 10 years, unless they have a lot
of kids, frequently donate blood, have heavy
periods, live in poverty or were previously
diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia, in which
case they should consider getting screened more
frequently.
--Dr. Greger is the author of Heart Failure: Diary of a Third Year Medical Student and has contributed to a number of books on veganism and food safety issues. He graduated from Cornell University School of Agriculture and the Tufts University School of Medicine. Please visit his web site, Vegan M.D..
