The 1 Cooking Utensil That Could Boost Your Iron

You know those little iron fish people sometimes place in their soups and stews, supposedly to gain more of the mineral?

Well, to be honest I always thought that was a load of tosh ― until Dr. Karan Rajan explained that cooking with a particular pan really might help boost your iron levels. 

In a recent TikTok, he shared, “If you want to get more iron in your diet, cooking with a cast iron skillet might be an easy way to do that.“

What? How?

Small amounts of iron leach from the material of the pan when you cook, especially if you’re cooking something liquid and/or acidic.

“The longer you cook something, the more you stir it, the more surface area the food has, all lead to even more iron being leached into your food,” Dr. Rajan explained in his video. 

Combining iron-rich foods (or even the iron in your pan) with vitamin C makes the miner even more bioavailable, the doctor added. 

Of course, the question of whether or not iron leaches from a pan is different to the question of whether your body can absorb and use that iron to make more haemoglobin ― but a couple of studies have found that often, it might. 

A 2003 systematic review found that “There is some evidence from these studies that eating food prepared in iron pots increases the haemoglobin concentration of anaemic/iron deficient individuals.” 

It’s definitely not a foolproof anaemia cure

If you’re worried about your iron, don’t rely on your pan to solve the issue ― as Dr. Rajan explains, while it may offer some benefits, you can’t predict how much iron it’ll offer. 

“Researchers from the University of Arizona Medical School found that the effects of iron absorption from cookware depends on your age, the size of the pot, the type of food you cook, how long you cook, and even the age of the cookware,” University Health News says.

They add, “Cooking in an iron pot or pan may add some iron to your blood, but it is not a reliable way to treat or prevent iron deficiency.” 

However, a cast iron (or even stainless steel) pan is a “cheap, low-risk intervention to increase dietary iron,” Dr. Karan Rajan explained ― especially when paired with a balanced iron and vitamin C-rich diet.