Eat iron supplements. I may try some bovine liver extract to get heme iron, but i am worried about the B vitamins as i am doing an experiment reducing b vitamins ATM.
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A few years ago, my ferritin levels were between 200 and 250. My daily lunch at the time consistently included processed meats, cooked ham, and white and black pudding.
Three years ago, I stopped eating these meats for lunch and replaced them with smooked salmon en hummus. My recent blood work showed that my ferritin levels have dropped by half. It was an interesting way to see how a simple change in daily diet can directly influence blood values over time.
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I’m assuming that anyone here who is on testosterone therapy (and/or other exogenous androgens) already knows that this tends to drive ferritin down (and hematocrit up).
Black pudding must be one of the highest concentrations of iron.
(chatGPT6)Bovine spleen has the highest iron concentration of the three. Approximate total iron content, measured per 100 g of food:
| Food | Iron per 100 g | Preparation/details |
|---|---|---|
| Black pudding | About 12 mg | Bury Black Pudding’s declared value; other brands and recipes vary. (Bury Black Pudding) |
| Bovine spleen | 44.6 mg raw; 39.4 mg braised | USDA food composition values. (ods.od.nih.gov) |
| Bovine liver | 4.9 mg raw; 6.5 mg braised | USDA food composition values. (ods.od.nih.gov) |
On these figures, spleen contains approximately nine times as much iron as liver when raw, or six times as much when braised. The figures describe iron present in the food, rather than the amount your body absorbs.
chatGPT(6):
Generally yes, compared with iron from plant foods—but the three foods differ. Haem iron is usually absorbed more readily than non-haem iron, and other ingredients in the meal have less influence on its absorption. (Health Professional Fact Sheet)
| Food | What matters for absorption |
|---|---|
| Black pudding | Blood supplies haemoglobin-bound haem iron. It also contains non-haem iron from other ingredients, so the recipe matters. (www.buryblackpuddings.co.uk) |
| Bovine spleen | Combines a high total iron concentration with potentially a high haem proportion: one study measured about 73% of its iron as haem. (Springer Nature Link) |
| Bovine liver | Much of its iron is non-haem storage iron. The same study found only about 14% as haem, so liver’s iron does not all have the absorption advantage associated with haem. (Springer Nature Link) |
Those percentages describe the form of iron, not the percentage absorbed. They also come from a small study involving two calves, so they should not be treated as fixed values for every portion. (Springer Nature Link)
The actual amount absorbed depends on the dose, your iron status and the meal. Even haem absorption is saturable, so doubling the iron eaten need not double the amount absorbed. Vitamin C can improve absorption of the non-haem portion. (The Journal of Nutrition)
That’s a great observation. You got me wondering whether TRT has an impact on the lifecycle of red blood cells and if perhaps it thwarts the use of HBA1C as a metric of blood sugar over time. I imagine it is still useful as a relative metric for the individual, but maybe calls into question its accuracy as a comparative to the rest of the population or as a comparison to A1C measurements before starting TRT.
I did find this on the lifecycle of red blood cells on TRT, but not sure of the implications.