*HEAD SLAP* Calcium & Iron

 How much calcium taken with iron is enough to inhibit the absorption of the iron?

For nearly two years I was taking iron with a Bariatric Advantage multi.  On my most recent labs my ferritin dropped from 21 to 16.  I need to call my surgeon's office and ask for the lab results so i can have them, so I don't know if this has been an ongoing trend or not.  Of course they've never said anything except this time, and having copies of my labs is the one thing I haven't been good about.  So someone asked me about taking my mutli with my iron in happy_baker's thread about vitamins.. and I checked and found that it was fine.. no calcium in my multi -- however.. that's in the Celebrate multi's that I started taking in late November.  Got an email for a special on BA multi's and wait one minute.. what's this?  Calcium in the multi I was taking.  50 mg per tablet.

From what I've read, it has to be more than 300mg to really impact it ..

"...where 50 milligrams or less of calcium has little if any effect on iron absorption, calcium in amounts 300-600 milligrams inhibit the absorption of heme iron similarly to nonheme iron."

source: http://www.irondisorders.org/diet/

Ok, I'll head slap you! But I'm just so proud of you for taking your vitamins regularly now that I make it soft.

I thought Kelly once said under 30mg, but I don't know. I've switched to heme iron- proferrin which can be taken with calcium. I'll get my labs redone in March and see if I absorb it better.

At least you're doing the right thing now. Maybe you just need more iron or if you are taking a lot, try breaking it into two doses a day. I use to take 180mg 2xday three hours from my calcium.

Good luck.
Jan

Nah, if it's less than 300 mg calcium, it won't hurt your iron.

Well, at least I remembered it was 3-something.  LOL

Unfortunately I'm finding a trend among many friends that had RNY that at 2-3 year mark, despite very religious supplementation (I was taking Proferrin 4x a day!), iron is still tanking. Some of us are requiring infusions. I wish I knew why some sustain their levels with regular supplementation and others use the most bioavailable iron replacement and still have trouble.

This is all to say it may very well have nothing to do with how you take your vits but more a function of your altered anatomy.

Good luck!

Denise

when you take the heme -are you breaking them in half?  From what I have read alot on here is that heme works much better when broken in half prior to being taken.  Also, have you tried taking a combination of heme and carbonyl iron with C?  You also dont' want to take heme with vitamin C either and not within 2-4 hours of thyroid medication.  I have seen many sucessful iron levels with 240-300mg of tender irons plu 3 heme per day.  Just a thought

 I switched to heme in the new year.  The makers of proferrin told me I could take it with my calcium so I have, but I also take vitamin C with it.  Didn't hear that you can't do that.  I'm trying it for three months then having my levels checked.  Why can't you take it with C?  Should I stop my C, I was taking it in the same dose as when I was taking my carbynol and even though I switched iron types, thought I should still take the C.

Thanks.
Jan

I would write to vitalady to make sure - I am not that familiar with heme other than what I have read and I have always read that you take the heme and carbonyl separately  = carbonyl with vitamin C and 2 - 4 hours away from calcium and thyroid medication, the heme with calcium but without vitamin C and still away from thyroid thyroid medication.  To be sure, I would check with vitalady - she is the expert.  She will write you back right away

Well if I head slap you, I will have to slap myself silly!  I though Iron inhibits the absorption of calcium!