Chicken nuggets - only 4% of iron in SEVEN nuggets! I need ideas for young children pls!

[Anonymous]

A four year old is supposed to get about 10 mg of iron a day.

The RDA for iron is 18 mg.

http://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/labelingnutrition/ucm064928.htm

So when they say a serving of chicken has 4% of iron, you should about double that for your daughter, because she doesn't need 18 mg, only about half that. So a serving of those chicken nuggets have about 8% of her iron requirement (still not a lot, and as you say, she usually eats half a serving).

Another source of iron is to cook acidic foods (tomato sauce, etc) or scrambled eggs in an iron skillet. Cooking in an iron skillet can double or triple the amount of iron in the food!

Iron from meat fish and chicken is heme iron and your body absorbs more of it, than iron from vegetables, fruit, grains and eggs. Eat more vitamin C at the same time as your meal, and your body will absorb more iron from non-heme sources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have anything against red meat?

Besides the price? No! It is delicious. But we eat mostly chicken with the occasional red meat and fish.

OP, if your kids are eating a healthy diet with chicken, fish and occasional read meat, and lots of fruits and veggies and whole grains, I don't think you have any reason to be concerned about iron intake.

My kid has been a non egg eating, strict vegetarian for 4 years now, with a picky appetite; he barely eats anything. I finally had his iron tested (at my request) and after 4 years of this, he was just " a little low". Based on that experience, I think it is pretty hard to run into a problem with low iron, unless you have a disorder, esp if you are eating "well".

[Anonymous]

beef, spinach, kidney beans, raisins, molasses

[Anonymous]

Iron fortified cereals, like post Honey bunches of oats or frosted shredded wheat (which, by the way, has 11 g sugar, so it's not the worst thing out there).

[Anonymous]

Lentils have a lot of iron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? Does she have an iron deficiency? If not, I wouldn't worry so much. Children don't need huge amounts of iron -- just what is proportional to their size.

She is 4 and has no iron deficiency that I know of. I am asking about that because we had her well visit last week and the doctor asked how is her iron intake and I said she eats some type of meat at least once a day. But I got kind of curious….

How does iron work in the body? Do we need a daily intake or just to keep a certain level? What I mean is, if I don't eat any or very little iron the whole week, but on Friday I eat some beef liver - does that make up for it?

I am just wondering if it is something I have to worry everyday and start serving read meat often or we can just keep doing what we have been doing….

Why don't you google some phrase along the lines of "what foods have iron?" and then look at the results and see which of those foods your children would like, and then serve those? Meat may have iron, but it also serves a dose of high cholesterol.

And?

[Anonymous]

Meatballs, almonds, spinach, raisins.

[Anonymous]

Red meat for us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A four year old is supposed to get about 10 mg of iron a day.

The RDA for iron is 18 mg.

http://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/labelingnutrition/ucm064928.htm

So when they say a serving of chicken has 4% of iron, you should about double that for your daughter, because she doesn't need 18 mg, only about half that. So a serving of those chicken nuggets have about 8% of her iron requirement (still not a lot, and as you say, she usually eats half a serving).

Another source of iron is to cook acidic foods (tomato sauce, etc) or scrambled eggs in an iron skillet. Cooking in an iron skillet can double or triple the amount of iron in the food!

Iron from meat fish and chicken is heme iron and your body absorbs more of it, than iron from vegetables, fruit, grains and eggs. Eat more vitamin C at the same time as your meal, and your body will absorb more iron from non-heme sources.

That was a great, thoughtful answer pp! So, a normal regular and balanced meal should be fine. I will make a point of using my cast iron more often though, just in case. About the vitamin C - it can be in form of a fruit right? So, a few strawberries, cantaloupes, apple/pear etc as a side or dessert should fill that gap right?

[Anonymous]

I'm not against chicken nuggets by any means, but chicken itself is not chock full of iron. You need red meat and green veggies for that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Red meat, so meatballs or meatloaf

This. Beef. and Beans & Rice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A four year old is supposed to get about 10 mg of iron a day.

The RDA for iron is 18 mg.

http://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/labelingnutrition/ucm064928.htm

So when they say a serving of chicken has 4% of iron, you should about double that for your daughter, because she doesn't need 18 mg, only about half that. So a serving of those chicken nuggets have about 8% of her iron requirement (still not a lot, and as you say, she usually eats half a serving).

Another source of iron is to cook acidic foods (tomato sauce, etc) or scrambled eggs in an iron skillet. Cooking in an iron skillet can double or triple the amount of iron in the food!

Iron from meat fish and chicken is heme iron and your body absorbs more of it, than iron from vegetables, fruit, grains and eggs. Eat more vitamin C at the same time as your meal, and your body will absorb more iron from non-heme sources.

Great idea about the iron skillet (not OP). I never heard that before.

[Anonymous]

cook in a cast iron skillet

[Anonymous]

chicken nuggets are often a "value" added food where there is a lot of processing. Salt and other junk. get real food and prepare it, it doesnt take that long and is tons better for you.

get those vacuum bags and deep freeze portions of chicken or beef you get at super sale prices, pull it and thaw and cook whenever you like!

Spinach, meatballs, prune juice are good for iron.

[Anonymous]

Iron fortified cereals