Foods High In Iron For Kids

Shellfish is tasty and nutritious.

Foods high in iron for kids.

This is good news because many kids especially younger ones don t usually like many of the best iron rich foods such as liver oysters clams and lentils. Although many vegetarian foods are a good source of iron our bodies don t absorb it so well. It is found in animal foods that originally contained hemoglobin such as red meats fish and poultry meat poultry and seafood contain both heme and. Non heam iron found in plant foods e g beans lentil fortified cereals and leafy green vegetables is less well absorbed.

A half cup of boiled drained spinach contains about 3 mg of iron. Heme iron is derived from hemoglobin. According to one source of a cup of oatmeal contains 4 5 to 6 6 mg of iron. All shellfish is high in iron but clams oysters and mussels are particularly good sources.

Oatmeal is also rich in fiber making it an excellent choice. In addition to foods that naturally have a lot of iron in them many foods are now fortified with iron or have iron added to them. Haem iron found in animal food e g red meat poultry seafood is absorbed well by the body. For children younger than 12 to 18 months old dried fruit can be a choking hazard.

As you can see in relation to adults particularly adult males children have fairly high iron needs. Don t exceed 45 mg per day for teens and adults and 40 mg per day for children 13 and younger the good news is that a lot of common foods are high in iron from chocolate and pumpkin seeds to. Add some to your child s cereal in the morning pack them for an afternoon snack or use them when baking muffins. Chocolate trail mix recipe 10.

For instance a 3 5 ounce 100 gram serving of clams may contain up. Sunflower and pumpkin seeds are rich in iron. Oatmeal is a nutritious snack that many toddlers love. Dark green leafy vegetables like kale broccoli and spinach are among your best vegetable options for iron.