Local Ghanaian foods rich in iron… a list if foods rich in iron in Ghana…a list of the Ghanaian iron containing foods…
Iron deficiency occurs when your body lacks the mineral Iron (Fe). 😥 Iron need to make hemoglobin and hemoglobin carries oxygen to the tissues and muscles in the body. 💉 Deficiency of Iron leads to Anemia condition in body.
Causes of iron deficiency anemia include;
*Blood loss
*Lack of iron in your diet
*An inability to absorb iron
*Pregnancy🤰
These groups of people may have an increased risk of iron deficiency anemia:
*Women 👩
*Vegetarians
*Infants and children 🏃♂️
*Frequent blood donors
Foods rich in iron include:
*Red meat, pork and poultry 🍗🍖
*Seafood 🐟
*Beans
*Dark green leafy vegetables, such as spinach🥬🥦
*Dried fruit, such as raisins and apricots🍑
*Iron-fortified cereals
-Choose foods containing vitamin C 🍊 and Folic acid (Vitamin B9) to enhance iron absorption.
#Vegan iron sources:
Soybeans, lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, tempeh, black beans, beet greens, tahini, peas, bulghur, bok choy, raisins, millet, kale.
Local Ghanaian foods rich in iron
Below are list of Ghanaian foods that we should add to our diet to continue to sufficiently supply our body with the required amount of iron daily;
1. Meat and Poultry
This include Lean beef, Veal, Pork, Chicken, Turkey, Liver (except fish liver). All these foods are rich in iron and many of us eat them almost everyday – unless you are a vegetarian. For example, a 100g serving of these meats would supply about 23mg of iron, which is 129% the DV.
Vegetarians also derive their own iron from sources such as vegetables. Many vegetables are also very rich in iron.
2. Seafoods
Seafoods such as Fish, Mussels and Shellfish are not just delicious, they are also very rich in iron. We still wrote about how crabs help to improve brain power and memory. They are always very great. They are in fact richer than the meats listed above in iron and you should eat them, unless you are allergic to some of them.
For example, any of these sea foods would give you 28mg of iron per 100g serving. Wait, before you say it is not really different from that from meat at 23mg, this is 155% of daily Value.
3. Vegetables
Dark green leafy vegetables of all kinds, Tofu, Broccoli, Sweet Peas, Brussel Sprouts, Kale, Bean Sprouts, Tomatoes, Lima Beans, Potatoes, Green Beans, Corn, Beets and Cabbage will supply you with iron when you eat them but not as much as the two groups of food mentioned above.
You need to eat more of these vegetables to get the amount of iron supplied by the foods listed above. For example, 100g of the dark leafy green vegetables such as spinach will only supply about 3.6mg iron. This is just 20% of the daily value. 100g serving of the beans will give you 3.7mg (21% DV).
I think we do a good job of eating much beans in this part of the world but still need to improve on our level of consumption of vegetables. Yes we cook vegetables such as spinach and Cochorus olitorius (Ewedu) but these are the cooked one, we should take more of the fresh ones like Cabbage, Spinach, Cucumber, etc.
It is also recommended that people that want to increase their iron intake eat foods high in vitamin C because one of its functions is to help the body absorb iron.
Sources:
www.nimedhealth.com.ng
Adeleke Olusegun Olaoluwa
