Why Vitamin C and Iron are a winning combination?

Vitamin C, like iron, is often found in your normal recommended diet, mostly in citrus fruits like oranges alongside strawberries and vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and red and green capsicums. Vitamin C is a vital nutrient and antioxidant that boosts the immune system, removes unwanted substances from the body, enhances wound healing and produces the necessary function to form and maintain bones, skin, and blood vessels.

Why does your intake of vitamin C affect your iron? Like many things in the body, iron absorption isn’t simple! Iron comes in two forms, heme iron which is mostly found in animal flesh, and non-heme iron which is found in plants such as beans, legumes and dark leafy greens. Heme iron is more easily absorbed by your body through diet alone, but both forms are necessary for health and normal body function. That’s where vitamin C comes in!

When taken together, vitamin C has been proven to increase the absorption of iron in the small intestine. Vitamin C captures non-heme (plant-based) iron and stores it in a form that’s more easily absorbed by your body. This results in a more efficient absorption of iron throughout the body. Since vitamin C is water soluble and not stored in the body, it needs to be consumed every day and adding it alongside non-heme iron is a great way to maintain adequate levels. Luckily for you, The Iron Company has an iron and vitamin C combination to help you get the most out of your nutrients.

Our iron gummies are also created with a slow release formula to aid with this absorption process. The iron in our gummies can take up to 3-4 hours to be released so it passes by the stomach through to the small intestine, to the part of the body where nutrients are best absorbed.