Iron Deficiency Increasing in U.S. Diets: Here’s What to Eat

• Researchers say there has been an increase in iron deficiency in the United States.
• They say the main factor is high crop yields per acre that are reducing the amount of iron in foods that people and animals eat.
• Nutritionists recommend people eat more foods with higher iron levels, and foods that help the body absorb iron.

People in the United States have been eating less red meat and experiencing more iron deficiency anemia.

That’s the conclusion of a new study published in the Journal of Nutrition.

Researchers said that data collected between 1999 and 2018 from the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference revealed that there has been a:

• 15 percent reduction in beef intake in U.S. diets
• 9 percent decrease in dietary iron intake in adult females
• 6 percent decrease in dietary iron intake in adult males

That’s not the full story, though.

The researchers also said that there’s a decrease in naturally present iron levels in beef and other animal proteins, as well as the plant-based foods they consume.

The decrease in iron levels in foods were detected in more than 62 percent of foods tested in 1999 and again in 2015.

The researchers said it’s this decrease in iron levels in the foods we’re eating that’s playing the largest role in the increase in iron deficiency anemia.

So, while beef consumption is down, it’s not the primary cause of higher rates of dietary anemia.