# Vegetarian iron preparations



## flowerfaery (Apr 26, 2012)

Hi, are there any vegetarian iron preparations that can be prescribed?  Today the midwife phoned the hospital pharmacy to ask about vegetarian friendly iron preparations and on their advice I was sent home with ferrous sulphate.  Luckily I read the information leaflet and noticed that it contained gelatine.  My GP has offered to prescribe ferrous fumarate, but after checking the PIL online this doesn't appear to be vegetarian either.  Are there any preparations out there suitable for treatment of anaemia in vegetarians?

Thanks for your help.
Flower


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## mazv (Jul 31, 2006)

The sandoz and wockhardt brands of ferrous sulphate do not contain gelatin. You'll need to find a pharmacy that stocks these particular brands. Can be difficult to get the same each time though as pharmacies are just given whichever generic brand of tablet that the wholesaler has in stock.


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## flowerfaery (Apr 26, 2012)

Thank you, that's really helpful.

Flower


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## Mistletoe (Holly) (Jan 1, 2007)

As a mild additional supplement you could take spatone liquid twice a day. It is meant to be better absorbed form and take with orange juice for maximum absorption.

For instance 2 sachets of spa tone a day contain 10mg of iron, and 40% is absorbed - this is 4mg.

A ferrous sulphate tablet contains 65mg iron, but only 3-10% is absorbed - so 2-6mg absorbed.

It depends on how much you need to take and how anaemic you are.
Some people get nasty black diarrhoea or constipation taking iron tablets as so much comes out in the stool.


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