Prof Geraldine Moses was speaking to a nurse who told her something concerning: patients with kidney failure were taking \u201ciron supplements\u201d that contained almost no iron.<\/p>\n
Patients on kidney dialysis often need iron supplements because the disease reduces the body\u2019s ability to produce red blood cells, leading to iron deficiency and anaemia.<\/p>\n
Moses, a doctor of clinical pharmacy specialising in drugs information, said it came as no surprise to her because of the proliferation of what she describes as \u201cuseless\u201d and \u201cineffective\u201d iron products.<\/p>\n
Sold online, in supermarkets and by other retailers, the tablets contain minuscule amounts \u2013 5mg or less per serve \u2013 of elemental iron, but are marketed in a way that implies they can treat iron deficiency.<\/p>\n
Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n Moses said some low-dose products market themselves as \u201cgentle on the stomach\u201d, when the real reason they don\u2019t cause an upset is that \u201cthere\u2019s barely any iron\u201d in them.<\/p>\n \u201cYou see powders, liquids, tablets and even expensive sachets of so-called iron-infused water that have little more iron than a bowl of cornflakes or a slice of bread,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWomen especially might need to take iron because they lose a lot of blood through menstruation or pregnancy. But if [a woman] goes to the shops and picks up a product that says it\u2019s an iron supplement and there\u2019s almost bloody nothing in it, her iron deficiency won\u2019t get any better.\u201d<\/p>\n It is a concern shared by Royal Australian College of Physicians president Prof Jennifer Martin, who echoed Moses\u2019 call for Australia\u2019s drugs regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), to introduce stronger oversight of supplements and their marketing.<\/p>\n \u201cMany iron supplements are considered \u2018food-supplements\u2019 or \u2018listed medications\u2019 by the TGA and, as such, there\u2019s much less of a requirement to prove their efficacy compared to prescription-only or \u2018registered\u2019 medications,\u201d said Martin, who is a senior physician and a clinical pharmacologist.<\/p>\n \u201cAn immediate solution is for doctors to specify exactly which product they want patients to use when prescribing iron, and for patients to clarify with their doctor if they are unsure. But ultimately, there does need to be better regulatory oversight of supplements and the way they are marketed.\u201d<\/p>\n For iron deficiency anaemia, Australian Red Cross Lifeblood recommends<\/a> 100\u2013200 mg of elemental iron daily. This can be taken in separate doses.<\/p>\n Its website states: \u201cThere are more than 100 iron containing preparations available over the counter in Australia but few contain a therapeutic dose for the treatment of iron deficiency anaemia.<\/p>\n \u201cMultivitamin-mineral supplements should be avoided because the elemental iron content is low (frequently 5 mg or less) and they may contain other ingredients that limit absorption.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Moses, who is also an adjunct associate professor with the University of Queensland\u2019s School of Pharmacy, said several of the low-dose products causing concern were already regulated as medicines.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does not make sense for the TGA to permit these products to make claims that they prevent iron deficiency or call themselves iron supplements.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the TGA did not directly answer Guardian Australia\u2019s questions about whether it had concerns these products may mislead consumers. The spokesperson said the TGA was \u201cnot planning such activity at this time\u201d in terms of minimum therapeutic dose requirements or enhanced oversight of low-dose iron supplements.<\/p>\n In the meantime, Martin said there needed to be greater regulation of pharmacies and more transparency around who was sponsoring products gaining TGA registration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need better ways to ensure people know the differences between treatments backed by evidence and those that aren\u2019t \u2013 particularly what information pharmacies should be giving people about this and when people need to speak to their doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n What to do if you\u2019re concerned about iron intake<\/p>\n Always see your GP for testing and advice because other medications, absorption issues and underlying conditions all affect how much iron is needed and how it should be taken.<\/p>\n People who are iron deficient usually need between 150mg and 200mg a day of elemental iron. Check the label for \u201celemental iron\u201d and the amount per dose.<\/p>\n Many iron supplements are considered \u201cfood-supplements\u201d or \u201clisted medications\u201d by the TGA with less of a requirement to prove their efficacy.<\/p>\n Look for an AUST R number if you have been diagnosed with iron deficiency or anaemia \u2013 these products are fully evaluated by the TGA for safety, quality and efficacy.<\/p>\n And ask your GP for product recommendations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prof Geraldine Moses was speaking to a nurse who told her something concerning: patients with kidney failure were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[102,6636,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-303517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}