Du bist Vegan? Ja.
Pech gehabt. Du wirst nie so aufgepumpt wie ich sein, weil du blass und schwach bist vom
Fleischmangel. Du brauchst Fleisch für Eisen damit du Eisen stemmen kannst!
Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. One of the most common
stereotypes we vegans come up against is that of the weak, pale, iron-deficient anemic vegan.
Dietary iron is strongly associated with meat consumption, particularly red meat, meaning
the flesh of cows, pigs, lambs, and other animals. So what’s a vegan to do when it comes to
getting adequate iron levels? This is the fourth video in my nutrient series with nutrition
powerhouse Dr Michael Greger of Nutritionfacts.org. So far we’ve covered protein, Omega fatty
acids, and calcium. And now, let’s hear from Dr. Greger on the matter of iron in a plant based diet.
The next nutrient that people worry about going vegan and I think a lot
of times because we associate this one with meat consumption, is iron.
Yeah so, people eating plant based get more iron too but it’s the right type
of iron; it’s non-heme iron. So the blood in that...so the iron in blood and muscles,
so called heme iron is absorbed whether we need it or not, and iron is a double edged
sword. It actually acts as a pro-oxidant. Too much of it can increase our risk for liver
damage, and diabetes, and heart disease, and all sorts of bad things. Not having enough
of it though, we can’t make enough blood cells...red blood cells, we can become anemic.
And so our intestine...when we don’t have enough iron, absorbs more and we have too
much iron, then it absorbs less. So, it’s perfect, keeps us right where we need to be.
But that’s only with non-heme iron. That’s the iron that we evolved for at least the
first 23 out of 25 million years of our evolution, is almost all plant sources, and so, our bodies
know how to regulate that. But heme iron slips through our intestine whether we have too
much of it or not. So particularly with men...maybe getting, actually risking too high, too much
iron and causing extra oxidative stress. Women are less likely to suffer because they have...
at least during reproductive age, have monthly blood loss, and so can keep iron levels from
getting too high, but...so look, we need iron. One in twenty menstruating women have iron deficiency
anemia and that’s the same for vegans, and omnivores, and vegetarians. Vegans don’t
have higher rates but one in twenty is a pretty bad rate period, and so we need to get good
sources of iron. Where do we get it?, beans and greens. How many times have you heard
me say that?, beans and greens. If everybody had beans and greens, also dried fruits...
are a good source to get some of these minerals as well.
I hope you enjoyed hearing from Dr. Greger on this topic. As he pointed out, there are plenty
of vegan sources of iron, beans and greens being excellent examples. And in fact, these
are even better iron sources on a per calorie basis than meat! For example, you would have
to eat more than 1700 calories of sirloin steak to get the same amount of iron found
in 100 calories of cooked spinach.
One of the great advantages of a vegan diet is that it is high in Vitamin C, which acts
to markedly increase the absorption of non-heme iron by about 6-fold when eaten in combination
with iron-containing foods. With many vegan foods, you get a double-whammy of naturally
co-occurring iron and vitamin C, such as in broccoli and bok choy.
In addition to beans and greens, some other vegan iron sources include: breads, cereals, and
grains, quinoa, oatmeal, prune juice, dried apricots, dried figs, raisins, raw or cooked
mushrooms, baked potato, tofu, lentils, sunflower seeds, & cashews.
And just a safety note, as with animal-based heme iron, iron supplements can become toxic
if you take too much. So if you are going to supplement, please do so under the care
of a physician and get your levels checked regularly. But if you’re just eating a whole-foods,
plant-based diet, you’ll be getting all the iron you need and your body won’t absorb
any excess. It’s interesting how many health and nutrition issues you don’t have to worry
about or manage when you’re not eating animals and their byproducts. It’s almost like our
biology and physiology are telling us that we weren’t meant to eat them at all!
So, here is my iron intake from yesterday, the bulk of which came from lettuce and butternut
squash. And it’s all non-heme iron so no worries about overdoing it. If you want to
track your own iron intake, check out Cronometer to track your nutrition and activity. It’s
totally free and an incredibly useful resource. As if that’s not enough awesome, they’re actually
sponsoring this video to help get this vital information out to you. Be sure to click the
link in the video description or the info-card sidebar to go make your profile so they know that
Bite Size vegan sent you and that we vegans can pump some serious dietary iron.
Oh, I already used that wordplay in the opener. Maybe I could say something iron-ic?
Let's just move along.
If you enjoyed this mega dose of vegan iron, give the video a big thumbs up and share it
around to spread the nutritional truth. If you’re new here be sure to hit that big red
subscribe button down there for more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday, and
some Fridays, and to not miss out on the rest of the videos with Dr. Greger. If you want
to help keep Bite Size Vegan educating, check out either of the support links in the video
description below and for perks and rewards for your support, like early access to all my videos, just click the Nugget Army
icon right there or the link in the info-card sidebar for more info on joining up.
And hey, check out some of the related videos while you’re here.
Now go live vegan, pump your dietary iron, and I’ll see you soon.
Ach, ich bin so gepumpt. Ich bin die Beste. Ich bin die Beste weil ich Fleisch esse.
This one arm’s really sore now ‘cause I’ve just been curling with this arm and not this arm.
I’m so out of shape.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community