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Comment by SamBam | Hacker News Reader

That was partly my question. Looking online, iron is definitely something that you don't want to have too much of.

My question is, basically, is having a non-anemic iron deficiency something that can be easily remedied by having low-dose over the counter vitamins, or is it something that requires a higher dose (to make up the difference in what you're missing) and so requires a doctor. And yet it sounds like this is difficult to diagnose.

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Over the counter iron supplements are totally safe to take for the period indicated on them. They contain as much iron as a medium piece of chicken liver.

Most of the over the counter ones I see online are 65 mg iron, which is nearly twice the iron in a whole half kilo of chicken liver.

The medical sites say a safe value is no more than 45 mg per day.

There are also low iron pills (or "gentle iron") that are 28 mg.

So not only are many over the counter pills potentially over the safe levels, but it still doesn't even really answer the question, which is whether the low-dose pills that are under the RDA effective in countering an iron deficiency.

Anyway. I think I'll ask my doctor at a once-every-several-years checkup.

Do you live in America? Supplements tend to be much stronger there. Here in Germany at the local pharmacy you will mostly find in the 10mg-30mg range. I've bought and drank them before to no ill effect, which is why I even started this entire chain.

Same for here in the UK. My iron suppliments are 30mg, which seems pretty usual here.

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