Women who menstruate need approximately 18 milligrams of iron a day, while pregnant women need up to 30 milligrams daily. Keep in mind that your body absorbs about 20 percent of the heme iron in meat and seafood but only 3 to 5 percent of the nonheme iron in fruits, vegetables and seeds. Meats chicken Beef are good sources. (.25=one quarter and .5=one half)
| Food | Portion | Iron (mg.) |
| Meat and Meat Products | ||
| Beef liver, braised | 3 oz. | 5.8 |
| Braunschweiger | 2 oz. | 5.6 |
| Duck, roasted | 3 oz. | 4.3 |
| Bottom round, lean | 3 oz. | 2.9 |
| Sirloin, broiled, lean | 3 oz. | 2.9 |
| Ground beef, lean | 3 oz. | 2.0 |
| Turkey, light and dark meat | 3 oz. | 1.6 |
| Chicken, boneless, broiled | 3 oz. | 0.9 |
| Seafood | ||
| Clams, steamed | 3 oz. | 25.2 |
| Oysters, steamed | 3 oz. | 5.6 |
| Sardines, Atlantic, canned | 3 oz. | 2.1 |
| Vegetables and Nuts | ||
| Tofu | .5 block | 8.5 |
| Soybeans, boiled | .5 cup | 4.4 |
| Miso | .5 cup | 3.8 |
| Cashews, dry-roasted | .25 cup | 3.4 |
| Lima beans | .5 cup | 2.3 |
| Pea (navy) beans | .5 cup | 2.3 |
| Black-eyed peas, boiled | .5 cup | 2.2 |
| Pinto beans | .5 cup | 2.2 |
| Refried beans | .5 cup | 2.2 |
| Almonds | .25 cup | 2.0 |
| Great Northern beans | .5 cup | 1.9 |
| Black beans | .5 cup | 1.8 |
| Black walnuts, chopped | .25 cup | 1.8 |
| Chick-peas, canned | .5 cup | 1.3 |
| Fruit | ||
| Prune juice | 1 cup | 3.0 |
| Peaches, dried | 5 halves (about 2 oz.) | 2.6 |
| Apricots, dried | 10 halves | 1.7 |
| Raisins, seedless | .5 cup | 1.5 |
| Figs, dried | (about 2 oz.) | 1.3 |
Women and Iron
One reason women are more susceptible to iron-deficiency anemia is that, besides losing the one to two milligrams of iron that's normally expelled from the body every day, women lose an additional one milligram a day during menstruation.Pregnant women may develop anemia for two reasons. First, while the number of red blood cells increases during pregnancy, the amount of fluid, or plasma, containing the cells goes up even more. The result is that the ratio of red blood cells to plasma changes. Second, if a woman is low in iron before she conceives, having the fetus draw on her low stores will push her into anemia, says Dr. Kitchens. Iron deficiency during pregnancy has been associated with complications such as low birthweight, premature birth, abnormalities of the fetus and even fetal death.