Multi Iron Complex Iron, 90 capsules

Multi Iron or Multi Iron Complex?

Here is an original customer question: What do you recommend? Multi Iron or Multi Iron Complex?

The essential difference between the two products is the dosage. If you want to take 7 mg of iron daily, Multi Iron is the right product.
7 mg is a dosage chosen, for example, by people who only want general prophylaxis. So, for example, vegans, women with the ongoing problem of heavy periods, etc.

Multi Iron Komplex contains 14 mg of iron per capsule. This makes sense for people who want/need to take a little more, e.g. because a mild deficiency already exists. Or people who do not have a deficiency but want to prevent one because they have experience with it, e.g. after very heavy menstrual bleeding.
If a doctor has already found a mild deficiency on a lab report, 14 mg or Multi Iron Komplex would be more advisable. People who constantly lose blood due to chronic illnesses (e.g. chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis) should also regularly take iron, in an amount depending on the severity of their symptoms.

In principle:

Iron is absolutely essential for life and supply should always be adequate. Long-term iron deficiency is harmful to the body and to an unborn child.
But iron is also a nutrient you must not overdo. Too much iron is equally very harmful.
So it's best to take iron only if a doctor has already recommended it or because you have personal experience of medically diagnosed iron deficiency and know that another phase is coming in which you will need a lot of iron.
People who eat meat and otherwise live healthily and have no particular medical or women’s health issues generally do not need to take any iron at all.
People who are already feeling very unwell because of their iron deficiency, e.g. with a pronounced anaemia with pallor and fatigue, should primarily follow their doctor's recommendations, and in such a case the doctor will probably recommend iron infusions, because the amount of iron needed urgently in an emergency cannot be absorbed via capsules in the short term.
And if the doctor recommends nothing despite clear anaemia, you should change doctors... unfortunately there are quite a few doctors with only limited knowledge of nutrition and nutrient deficiencies who will do nothing in such a case except offer lukewarm advice (Eat more meat...) .

On tolerability: Many doctors who are not very familiar with the topic prescribe very high-dose iron preparations from the pharmacy to patients with a severe deficiency instead of carrying out costly and labour-intensive infusions.
However, iron is rather poorly tolerated by many people, depending on the chemical form. It is not uncommon for health problems to become worse after taking it than before, e.g. if the iron deficiency is due to chronic intestinal inflammation, which unfortunately is not a rare disease. Then extreme anaemia is exchanged for extreme intestinal cramps, which in the end is no better for the sufferer...
The chemical form used by St. Helia Multi Iron Komplex is very well tolerated, even in the 14 mg variant. We have user reports that even with higher or longer-term use they had no problems because of this.
For all hypersensitive customers we recommend Eisen Aktiv by Podomedi. This contains iron chelates, which are significantly better tolerated than Multi Iron Komplex with its iron fumarate!
Chelates are generally the highest-quality and best-tolerated compounds with which minerals can be absorbed!

Tolerable Upper Limit

The UL value for iron has not been established in Europe. In the USA the Institute of Medicine set a Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for iron at 45 mg per day. That is the amount that can be taken daily over a long period without causing health problems.

Who should not take iron?

In general, people who have the not-so-rare hereditary disease haemochromatosis (iron storage disease) should not take iron. Depending on the source, this occurs in between 1 in 200 and 1 in 400 people.