Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

[Kat Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kat]

Just wondering if any women have had problems with drinking coffee and their iron levels? Apparently coffee inhibits iron intake. I cant help but wonder if this is why I am in this position now. Since purchasing my first machine about a year ago I have been having 2-3 espressos a day, since purchasing my lelit combi a few months ago I have been having the same but I think its almost double the grams to make it in this machine. My iron levels have dropped significantly with a level of 13 (didnt mean much to me but comparing it does) most adult women have a level of 30-50 and if it gets as low as 10 it can be serious. I feel drained all the time, tired and now taking the iron tablets have nausea aswell so I am now limiting my coffee intake to one a day in the middle of the day. Curious if anyone else has had this?

[Thundergod Sleep is overrated Find all posts View Profile Close Thundergod]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

A quick google found this:

"The normal range of hemoglobin values is 14 to 17 for adult men and 12 to 15 for nonpregnant women. The World Health Organization defines anemia as less than 12 for nonpregnant women and less than 13 for men."

I havent donated blood for a while but when I went regularly my hemoglobin usually measured around 16.4.

According to the figures above your 13 is in the healthy range (assuming youre not pregnant).

I dont know where you obtained your information that gives a scale of 30 - 50 for women.

From what I know, you are correct that 10 and under is classed as anaemic.

Given that coffee intake could intefere with iron absorbtion, wouldnt it just make sense not to wash down your spinach with coffee.

In other words, so long as you are eating iron rich foods and allowing time for the iron to be taken in by your body, drinking coffee at other times will have no effect.

Nausea is a known side effect of iron tablets.

[Kat Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kat]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

The numbers came from a blood test taken, not sure what they are rated against, it might not be the same guidelines your talking of, as it was my Doctor who said average women my age should be 30-50. She said it would be dangerous for me to donate blood at the moment as they are too low. (I was booked in the next day after my appt. to donate blood so that was out) I dont ever remember getting information like that when Ive donated blood? Did you request it?
So you think its just drinking coffee at the same time as eating iron? Ill have to do a research on it, just thought I should warn women coffee lovers that there is a downside of drinking too much.

[Thundergod Sleep is overrated Find all posts View Profile Close Thundergod]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

When you give blood they always test your hemoglobin.
Usually you can see the reading on the machine but if you cant just ask or check on your printout that goes with you to the donation bed.

If you had gone to give blood before seeing your doctor they would have turned you away after that preliminary test.
Ive seen them do it.

As for my theory about drinking coffee at the same time as eating your iron, think about it.
You already said coffee inhibits the intake of the iron, not that it takes iron out of your body.
Logically then, if you havent eaten food with iron in it, the coffee cannot inhibit something which isnt there.

So if you are deficient in iron, (my wife is) and eat iron rich foods to combat the problem, you just need to also be aware of when you drink your coffee.

Just ask your doctor (or get a second opinion) about my theory.

Im lucky that my iron borders on the high side, although the Blood Bank worries that it doesnt get any higher.

As I dont drink coffee after about 4:00pm any iron in my evening meal is safe from inhibition by coffee.

[chartres Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close chartres]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

 My iron levels have dropped significantly with a level of 13 (didnt mean much to me but comparing it does) most adult women have a level of 30-50 and if it gets as low as 10 it can be serious.  I feel drained all the time, tired and now taking the iron tablets have nausea aswell so I am now limiting my coffee intake to one a day in the middle of the day.  Curious if anyone else has had this?

maybe you may use cast iron and high carbon iron pan at home for cooking. Those add iron to the food and also are considered healthier in general.
in this case hopefully coffee and pan will cancel effects of each other....

[NE14COFFEE Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close NE14COFFEE]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

Kat youre right, TG is wrong. 13 refers to ug/L, which is low. Anything under 20 and it becomes a worry. If your levels remain at that rate for several months you will start drawing on your long term stores (not good). Heavy menstration due to PCOS or endemetriosis is often the cause of such low levels. You may think you are ingesting enough iron but in fact you arent. I wouldnt worry about cutting back on the coffee unless the doctor instructed you to do so.

[oro Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close oro]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

Did your doctor confirm that your iron was low, or is that your interpretation of the blood test results? I’m not a doctor, but my understanding is that normal levels of haemoglobin for women are around 12-15g/dl, and normal haematocrit (red blood cell count) levels for women are around 32-48%. Its all related, but they’re different numbers measuring different things. Unless your haematocrit really is 13 (and I’d hazard a guess that you’d be dearly departed if it was), it sounds more like its 13 for haemoglobin – a tad low, but nothing alarming.  

All that aside, the easiest way to ensure you’re absorbing as much heme and non-heme iron sources when you eat is to consume vitamin c at the same time – swap your coffee for orange juice and leave the coffee for in between meals.

Hope that helps  

[NE14COFFEE Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close NE14COFFEE]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

I think you are all talking about different things if im not wrong Kat is referring to her Ferritin levels.

[flynnaus Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close flynnaus]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

I dont know about anyone else but Im not comfortable with this. providing espresso advice online is one thing; providing medical advice is another. Even if we were all medically trained, I dont think we know enough about Kats medical history to provide advice. I dont mean any offence or question anyones credentials - I think we need to be careful.

Kat - it sounds like you are already receiving medical advice. If you are not getting the answers you need from the doctor, get a second opinion. In my experience, pathology reports provide both the actual level and the normal limits for any test

[NE14COFFEE Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close NE14COFFEE]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

I dont know where you obtained your information that gives a scale of 30 - 50 for women.

As flynnaus has now mentioned serology results usualy indicate the normal levels from which you can compare yours. It would seem Kat is stating the limits mentioned on her test result.

[Thundergod Sleep is overrated Find all posts View Profile Close Thundergod]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

flynnaus - I did already suggest a second opinion or more questions to the doctor. You repeating it is a good thing.

NE1 - I concede the point I was wrong on but in my defence did question that we were talking about the same scale.

In support of my suggestion, oro has also suggested drinking coffee at other times.

KAT - ask the doctor as many questions as you need to until you are comfortable that you understand the test results and its implications.

[Dimal Mal Find all posts View Profile Close Dimal]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

My lovely lady has been drinking between 10-15 coffees per day since I first met her (about 35 years ago) and has blood results that are always very healthily normal, so I dont know that coffee has anything to do with low iron. If it did, my wifes iron levels would be lower than the bottom of the Dead Sea. I second the recommendations made by others above; seek a second opinion just to make sure...

Mal.

P.S.
One set of pathology results does NOT a health issue solve. Most Medicos will want to see a pattern of abnormal readings before making a diagnosis.... been there, done that

[Rolley Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rolley]

good news

Hey Kat, I think I might have some good news for you... start drinking decaf coffee for a couple of months and see how that goes.

I[ch8217]ve read that its not coffee, but rather the actual caffeine which reduces your iron.. however it[ch8217]s a matter of contention in the science community, and you[ch8217]ll see people arguing either way.. it[ch8217]s pretty complicated and the chemical reactions regarding coffee and caffeine are beyond me!

But still, I[ch8217]d say it[ch8217]s worth a try.

So if I were you Id start with that, along with a review of your diet to see where you can squeeze in more iron.. for example, throw on spinach leaves instead of lettuce, make sure youre having enough vitamin C to help you absorb your iron.. stuff like that

Iron is strange, my wife had big iron problems when we first met, particularly when she was pregnant for the first time. A couple of years later she actually became a vegetarian and her iron levels are actually better, they were also much better during her second pregnancy (in comparison to the first when she actually ate red meat all the time).. interesting hey..

Rolley

[Kat Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kat]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

Sorry, didnt mean to start a medical debate here, I just wondered if others knew of the relationship between coffee and iron intake. That was the relevance of posting it here.
Yes, I did get all info. from my Dr who I trust implicitly, it is just that I wondered if anyone else had experienced the same thing from starting to drink espresso regularly. I personally cant help but think it is related as my coffee intake has increased quite a bit.
As NE14coffee says, I think its my ferritin level she is talking about which measures your iron.
Thanks.
Kat

[Coffee2Di4 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Coffee2Di4]

Re: Iron Levels in Women and Coffee

I guess I must be lucky - Ive been a fairly high coffee drinker for years (at least one large commercial latte a day and about 3-4 instants until I got my espresso maker and now about 3-4 home made lattes a day since getting my machine.

Ive fortunately never had a problem with my iron levels, including both times I was pregnant when my iron levels were being monitored at fairly regular intervals by my doctor, although I dont generally drink coffee with a meal (sometimes a coffee is my meal, which is probably not good!) and eat a fair amount of red meat and usually have spinach leaves and rocket in any salad I have, both of which are high in iron and Im a big vegie eater also.

I can usually tell if my iron levels are dropping a bit (never a lot) because I start craving a nice, juicy steak badly so I feed the urge and all is good again. About the lowest I have ever dropped in iron levels, I think, was when red meat was so expensive a couple of years ago and, with two children to feed, we subsisted mostly on chicken and pork because it was cheaper. Fortunately the price dropped again so we were able to go back to our normal 3-4 meals a week with red meat.