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Calculate your daily iron requirement based on age, gender, and health status. Iron needs vary dramatically — women need up to 3× more than men during reproductive years.
Your details
Daily iron target
Enter your details above
—
Minimum
—
mg/day
Target
—
mg/day
Upper safe limit
45
mg/day
Iron requirements by group
Group
Age
Daily iron (mg)
Infants
0–6 months
0.27
Infants
7–12 months
11
Children
1–3 years
7
Children
4–8 years
10
Boys
9–13
8
Girls
9–13
8
Teen boys
14–18
11
Teen girls
14–18
15
Men
19–50
8
Women
19–50
18
Men & Women
51+
8
Pregnant women
Any
27
Breastfeeding
Any
9–10
Vegans / vegetarians
Any
1.8× standard RDA
Top iron food sources
Food
Iron per 100g
Type
Chicken liver
13mg
Heme (high absorption)
Beef liver
6.5mg
Heme
Oysters
7mg
Heme
Lean beef
3.5mg
Heme
Pumpkin seeds
8mg
Non-heme (eat with Vit C)
Lentils (cooked)
3.3mg
Non-heme
Spinach (cooked)
3.6mg
Non-heme
Dark chocolate 85%+
11mg
Non-heme
Tofu (firm)
3mg
Non-heme
Quinoa (cooked)
1.5mg
Non-heme
Heme vs non-heme iron
Heme iron (from animal sources) absorbs at 15–35%. Non-heme iron (from plants) only absorbs at 2–20%.
Eat Vitamin C with plant iron sources to boost absorption by up to 3×.
Avoid tea, coffee, and calcium at the same meal as iron-rich foods.