July 10, 2026 • 8 mins
Iron deficiencies are more common than one might think.
It’s the most common nutrient deficiency in New Zealand, and on a global scale, with research suggesting approximately 2 billion people struggle with low iron.
Who is most likely to be affected by an iron deficiency, how can you tell, and how can you increase your iron levels?
Dr Libby Weaver joined Jack Tame to run through some facts about the common affliction.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks at B and Doctor Libby.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Libby Weaver is Weather this morning, killed O Libby. It
is so good to have you here.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Good morning Jack.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It is so good to be speaking with you and
speaking about something that I think we are only just
kind of getting a good handle on. Iron deficiency. And
this is something that affects so many people, right.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
It sure does. It's actually the most common nutritional deficiency
in the world. So up to fifty five percent of
women in New Zealand are affected by some degree of
iron deficiency. And the stats are really concerning for children.
So while there are other nutrients that kind of get
trendy on Instagram and get a lot of attention, we're
actually missing this really basic one which is the most
common one.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, And it's one of these things where like, you know,
the women in my life who have you know, experienced
iron deficiency at times like it can be night and day,
like they can just feel totally exhort and then if
their iron's topped up, all of a sudden, they just
feel like infinitely better. It's you know, it's like the
contrast is quite remarkable.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Eh, It truly is, and it's we want to bring
that to life so that when you feel really lousy,
when you feel fatigue or weakness, or you notice that
your skins become pale, some women notice shortness of breath
or headaches or really heavy periods. Instead of just thinking oh,
it's stress or part of a busy life. I really
want to encourage women to go and have their iron
(01:34):
tested and find out if they are deficient, because, as
you say, it's night and day with quality of life
once your iron is topped up.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, yeah, significant. So how easy is it to test
for iron efficiency.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
It's so straightforward. Just have a chat with your GP
and what you want to ask for is iron studies
and that's a group of four different tests your serum
iron and then another test called transperen which is a
taxi that drives iron around in your blood, and then speritine,
which is your iron storage. So to think of it
like you'll back up that tree. And the normal ranges
(02:07):
for adult women for Ferrison in New Zealand is twenty
to two hundred and twenty micrograms per lead, which is
a crazy big range. We need normal ranges because it'll
be chaos without them. But in my clinical experience, and
there's a lot of scientific literature now to show this
as well, that once Skeraitine gets below about fifty, a
lot of women have iron deficiency symptoms. So you want
(02:28):
to get your ferretin above fifty.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Okay, so you said fifty five percent of New Zealand
women right experiences. Why is it so prevalent?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
So there's so many different things contributing to it. And
the first thing is too many of us just don't
eat enough iron rich foods across the instruation the years.
We actually need eighteen milligrams per day, and it's hard
enough to eat that when you're kind of a robust eater.
It's really hard to get that amount. If you've got
(02:58):
some kind of dieting mentality, or you're skipping meals. For example,
a lot of women they're busy, they just have coffee
for lunch, and coffee, isn't it. Yeah, it's hard to
hit our iron targets when they're skipping meals. For some
women it's because they have really heavy periods, or they
might have guve is shoes that actually interfere with their
body's ability to absorb it well, it can be undiagnosed
(03:18):
celias disease. And of course we've also seen a rise
in the use of GLP one medications that actually interferes
with iron absorption as well as suppressing appetite. Really important
for people who are using those medications to make sure
they don't become iron efficient. It needs to be a focus.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I didn't know that that's interesting because I mean, you know,
you hear about some of the other side effects, but
I didn't realize that it could interfere with iron absorption.
So yeah, I mean that would be you know, that
would be quite significant, you know, especially if people aren't
eating the same kind of foods that they were previously.
That would that would be quite significant. So what are
the kind of iron rich foods that people can focus on?
(03:58):
Is it all just spinach and red meat?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Well, that's a good start, That's a really good start, actually.
So yes, our red meat is a beautiful, rich source
of hem iron which is nice and biol available. Then
there's all of our organ meats, you know, so don't
You can make patte very easily in your blender at home. Yeah,
and muscles are another good sauce wins, and then some
(04:22):
iron in eggs, and then some of our vegetable sauces
which we don't absorb the iron as well from our plants.
That needs to be paired with vitamin C. So there's
iron as you're saying, spinach in kale, in lentils, in seaweed, parsley,
but those forms of iron are not as well absorbed,
so it's yeah, pairing that with vitamin SEA. So lemon
(04:43):
juice squeezed over green leaves will give you more iron
than if you didn't have the lemon juice over the
top of that for.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That funny Okay, yeah, yeah, it's I mean classic, right,
like eat your leafy greens, but make sure you have
at least another one of your five plus a day
in there as well.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Yeah, but also the magic of nature obviously some of
those green, leafy vegetables do have vitamin C corporated into them. Yeah,
there is, you know, the magnifistence of nature is sort
of all there. But when we boil our veggies to billio,
then we destroy all of that vitamin.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah. Right, So but this is a key point though, right,
it's not just eating iron rich foods, it's actually making
sure that you're eating the foods that will help you
absorb the iron, and those iron rich foods as well,
which is kind of critical.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
So it's tricky, Jack, because there's all sorts of things
that interfere with iron absorption as well as we have,
for example, a calcium rich food at the same time
as the iron rich food, the calcium winds and we
miss out on the iron.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
So I know it can be tricky. So but just
even being focused on eating enough iron rich foods is
just a really great way to go.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, okay, So if you are having steak with spinach
with lemon juice over the top, then make sure you
wait a couple of hours before you have two bowls
of ice.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Cream spot on.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah okay, yeah, it's all ballots. Okay, So what about supplementation?
Are there times when iron supplementation is helpful.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Without doubt? So it can be sometimes for children who
just they might be picky eaters, they're not eating enough
iron rich foods that can be crucial for them. Teenage girls,
there are sadly too many teenage girls who because anxiety
is one of the symptoms of iron deficiency. Obviously, anxiety
can be caused by all sorts of things that iron
deficiency is one of them. Supplementation is sometimes very important
(06:28):
for teenage girls and then women across the menstruation years
who might not be able to eat enough iron rich
foods to hit those targets. And there's an old school
type of iron supplement that a lot of women will
link to constipation and other gut related symptoms. But there's
a new breed of iron supplement out there. I spent
five years full transparency. I spent five years developing one
(06:49):
called iconic iron, and it's actually contained speritin iron, which
is a very it's a groundbreaking form of iron extracted
from organic peas, and its absorption mechanism is completely different
from all other forms of iron and O and it's
getting terrific results of people as it blows my mind,
not just the blood test improvements, but the improvements that
(07:11):
people describe feeling and on their quality of life. So
that can be something to look out for. Iconic iron.
It's all made from food. Ok.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Okay, so iconic iron. So where do we find out
about iconic I go on, let me give us the PRIMO.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Oh it's very kind, thank you. So at bioblends dot
com and you can read all about Iconicline and it's
it's a unique absorption mechanism and the effect it's having
on people out at bioblends dot com. Yeah, that's really generous.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
No, No, I've heard, I've heard, you know, the women
in my life moaning about the other the old school
ones that can kind of make you feel worse than beforehand,
you know, well you know, they can feel make you
feel a bit blocked up or stuffy or whatever. So yeah,
so a different absorption method makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, thank you, it does. And because the trouble with
the old school ones is a lot of women will
say to me, I would rather be iron decisient than constipated,
and so they then live with the iron deficiency, which
obviously consequences that are not ideal. So if we want
to address it with a gut friendly.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Version, fantastic iconic iron. Okay, thank you so much, Libby,
it's so good to chat.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yes to you as well, Jack, thank you so much
for your lovely question.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
That is Livy Weaver. We'll make sure her recommendations there
are up on the news talks He website. You know
what to do everything from our show goes up there,
news talkshedb, dot co, dot n ZID, forward slash
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Jack for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, Listen
live to Newstalks dB from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks at B and Doctor Libby.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Libby Weaver is Weather this morning, killed O Libby. It
is so good to have you here.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Good morning Jack.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It is so good to be speaking with you and
speaking about something that I think we are only just
kind of getting a good handle on. Iron deficiency. And
this is something that affects so many people, right.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
It sure does. It's actually the most common nutritional deficiency
in the world. So up to fifty five percent of
women in New Zealand are affected by some degree of
iron deficiency. And the stats are really concerning for children.
So while there are other nutrients that kind of get
trendy on Instagram and get a lot of attention, we're
actually missing this really basic one which is the most
common one.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, And it's one of these things where like, you know,
the women in my life who have you know, experienced
iron deficiency at times like it can be night and day,
like they can just feel totally exhort and then if
their iron's topped up, all of a sudden, they just
feel like infinitely better. It's you know, it's like the
contrast is quite remarkable.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Eh, It truly is, and it's we want to bring
that to life so that when you feel really lousy,
when you feel fatigue or weakness, or you notice that
your skins become pale, some women notice shortness of breath
or headaches or really heavy periods. Instead of just thinking oh,
it's stress or part of a busy life. I really
want to encourage women to go and have their iron
(01:34):
tested and find out if they are deficient, because, as
you say, it's night and day with quality of life
once your iron is topped up.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, yeah, significant. So how easy is it to test
for iron efficiency.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
It's so straightforward. Just have a chat with your GP
and what you want to ask for is iron studies
and that's a group of four different tests your serum
iron and then another test called transperen which is a
taxi that drives iron around in your blood, and then speritine,
which is your iron storage. So to think of it
like you'll back up that tree. And the normal ranges
(02:07):
for adult women for Ferrison in New Zealand is twenty
to two hundred and twenty micrograms per lead, which is
a crazy big range. We need normal ranges because it'll
be chaos without them. But in my clinical experience, and
there's a lot of scientific literature now to show this
as well, that once Skeraitine gets below about fifty, a
lot of women have iron deficiency symptoms. So you want
(02:28):
to get your ferretin above fifty.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Okay, so you said fifty five percent of New Zealand
women right experiences. Why is it so prevalent?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
So there's so many different things contributing to it. And
the first thing is too many of us just don't
eat enough iron rich foods across the instruation the years.
We actually need eighteen milligrams per day, and it's hard
enough to eat that when you're kind of a robust eater.
It's really hard to get that amount. If you've got
(02:58):
some kind of dieting mentality, or you're skipping meals. For example,
a lot of women they're busy, they just have coffee
for lunch, and coffee, isn't it. Yeah, it's hard to
hit our iron targets when they're skipping meals. For some
women it's because they have really heavy periods, or they
might have guve is shoes that actually interfere with their
body's ability to absorb it well, it can be undiagnosed
(03:18):
celias disease. And of course we've also seen a rise
in the use of GLP one medications that actually interferes
with iron absorption as well as suppressing appetite. Really important
for people who are using those medications to make sure
they don't become iron efficient. It needs to be a focus.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I didn't know that that's interesting because I mean, you know,
you hear about some of the other side effects, but
I didn't realize that it could interfere with iron absorption.
So yeah, I mean that would be you know, that
would be quite significant, you know, especially if people aren't
eating the same kind of foods that they were previously.
That would that would be quite significant. So what are
the kind of iron rich foods that people can focus on?
(03:58):
Is it all just spinach and red meat?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Well, that's a good start, That's a really good start, actually.
So yes, our red meat is a beautiful, rich source
of hem iron which is nice and biol available. Then
there's all of our organ meats, you know, so don't
You can make patte very easily in your blender at home. Yeah,
and muscles are another good sauce wins, and then some
(04:22):
iron in eggs, and then some of our vegetable sauces
which we don't absorb the iron as well from our plants.
That needs to be paired with vitamin C. So there's
iron as you're saying, spinach in kale, in lentils, in seaweed, parsley,
but those forms of iron are not as well absorbed,
so it's yeah, pairing that with vitamin SEA. So lemon
(04:43):
juice squeezed over green leaves will give you more iron
than if you didn't have the lemon juice over the
top of that for.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That funny Okay, yeah, yeah, it's I mean classic, right,
like eat your leafy greens, but make sure you have
at least another one of your five plus a day
in there as well.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Yeah, but also the magic of nature obviously some of
those green, leafy vegetables do have vitamin C corporated into them. Yeah,
there is, you know, the magnifistence of nature is sort
of all there. But when we boil our veggies to billio,
then we destroy all of that vitamin.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah. Right, So but this is a key point though, right,
it's not just eating iron rich foods, it's actually making
sure that you're eating the foods that will help you
absorb the iron, and those iron rich foods as well,
which is kind of critical.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
So it's tricky, Jack, because there's all sorts of things
that interfere with iron absorption as well as we have,
for example, a calcium rich food at the same time
as the iron rich food, the calcium winds and we
miss out on the iron.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
So I know it can be tricky. So but just
even being focused on eating enough iron rich foods is
just a really great way to go.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, okay, So if you are having steak with spinach
with lemon juice over the top, then make sure you
wait a couple of hours before you have two bowls
of ice.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Cream spot on.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah okay, yeah, it's all ballots. Okay, So what about supplementation?
Are there times when iron supplementation is helpful.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Without doubt? So it can be sometimes for children who
just they might be picky eaters, they're not eating enough
iron rich foods that can be crucial for them. Teenage girls,
there are sadly too many teenage girls who because anxiety
is one of the symptoms of iron deficiency. Obviously, anxiety
can be caused by all sorts of things that iron
deficiency is one of them. Supplementation is sometimes very important
(06:28):
for teenage girls and then women across the menstruation years
who might not be able to eat enough iron rich
foods to hit those targets. And there's an old school
type of iron supplement that a lot of women will
link to constipation and other gut related symptoms. But there's
a new breed of iron supplement out there. I spent
five years full transparency. I spent five years developing one
(06:49):
called iconic iron, and it's actually contained speritin iron, which
is a very it's a groundbreaking form of iron extracted
from organic peas, and its absorption mechanism is completely different
from all other forms of iron and O and it's
getting terrific results of people as it blows my mind,
not just the blood test improvements, but the improvements that
(07:11):
people describe feeling and on their quality of life. So
that can be something to look out for. Iconic iron.
It's all made from food. Ok.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Okay, so iconic iron. So where do we find out
about iconic I go on, let me give us the PRIMO.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Oh it's very kind, thank you. So at bioblends dot
com and you can read all about Iconicline and it's
it's a unique absorption mechanism and the effect it's having
on people out at bioblends dot com. Yeah, that's really generous.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
No, No, I've heard, I've heard, you know, the women
in my life moaning about the other the old school
ones that can kind of make you feel worse than beforehand,
you know, well you know, they can feel make you
feel a bit blocked up or stuffy or whatever. So yeah,
so a different absorption method makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, thank you, it does. And because the trouble with
the old school ones is a lot of women will
say to me, I would rather be iron decisient than constipated,
and so they then live with the iron deficiency, which
obviously consequences that are not ideal. So if we want
to address it with a gut friendly.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Version, fantastic iconic iron. Okay, thank you so much, Libby,
it's so good to chat.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yes to you as well, Jack, thank you so much
for your lovely question.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
That is Livy Weaver. We'll make sure her recommendations there
are up on the news talks He website. You know
what to do everything from our show goes up there,
news talkshedb, dot co, dot n ZID, forward slash
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Jack for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, Listen
live to Newstalks dB from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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