Iron deficiency anemia is the most common nutrition deficiency in the U.S., Canada and many countries around the world. The amount of total iron in meat versus vegetable sources often appears be similar, but in the newest Meat MythCrusher video, Lindsay Chichester, Ph.D., extension educator at the University of Nebraska, explains the difference between heme iron found in meat and non-heme iron from vegetable sources
“Our bodies can more easily absorb the iron in the heme form from meat than from vegetables in the non-heme form,” said Dr. Chichester. “For vegetarians, you need to eat 1.8 times the amount of non-heme iron to get the amount from one serving of meat.”