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The guide

When to take iron: far from coffee, tea and dairy.

Updated 2 min readWaiting for medical review

The short answer

Iron is absorbed best on an empty stomach, away from coffee, tea, dairy and calcium. Many people find bedtime easiest, at least 2 hours after the last meal. If iron upsets your stomach, your doctor may suggest taking it with a little food instead.

MIDNIGHT6 AMNOON6 PMA day ofiron timing7:00 BreakfastYour calcium meal. Coffee is fine here.12:45 LunchIron meal, with vitamin C and colour.Keep clearNo coffee or tea 1 h before, 2 h after.15:30 Tea, coffee or matchaMatcha needs 3–4 h before the next iron meal.19:15 DinnerIron meal number two.22:30 Iron, every other dayAt bedtime, 2–3 h after dinner.23:00 SleepThe longest calm stretch of the day.
One day, drawn out. Iron at bedtime, two iron meals, coffee and dairy in the gaps.

Why bedtime works

  • It is far from the morning coffee and the breakfast yogurt.
  • Your last meal is 2 to 4 hours behind you.
  • Fewer people feel sick at night than first thing in the morning.
  • It is easy to remember, and easy to mark on a calendar.
Do

Take iron at least 2 hours after your last meal, 3 to 4 is better, and keep coffee and tea 1 to 2 hours away.

Don’t

Take it with breakfast coffee, a milky drink or a calcium tablet.

Morning, if you prefer

Many studies give iron in the morning on an empty stomach, and that works too, as long as coffee and breakfast wait. Pick the time you can keep, and keep it the same.

Strong iron salts are sometimes taken with food to spare the stomach. If your doctor prescribed it that way, follow their plan.

Keep iron tablets locked away from children. A handful of adult tablets can seriously poison a child.

A real page from The Iron GuideA day of iron timing, from the guide's food chapter.See more pages

Questions

Should I take iron with orange juice?

Vitamin C helps plant-form iron get in, and many iron products already include it. A glass of orange juice is a common pairing; ask your pharmacist about yours.

Can I take iron with other supplements?

Keep calcium, zinc and magnesium apart from iron, and take other supplements at a different time unless your doctor says otherwise.

Sources

  1. 1.NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Iron: fact sheet for health professionals
  2. 2.Moretti D. et al. Oral iron supplements increase hepcidin and decrease iron absorption from daily or twice-daily doses in iron-depleted young women. Blood, 2015
  3. 3.The Iron Guide, part 6: Taking iron well

This page has not been reviewed by a clinician yet. Read it as general education, and take your own results to your doctor.

Educational, not medical advice. ferritin.ai does not diagnose or treat any condition, and it never sets a dose. Talk to your doctor about your own results.

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