Our founder Nélida speaks with Forbes Magazine about iron supplements and her journey to start Ironic Biotech.
For Leiva Eriksson, the problem lays in the nature of the iron present in the supplements: over 99% of those on the market are based on ‘inorganic’ iron: “It's like having a nail in powder (inside the supplement). It is inorganic (elemental iron) and that's why it's not properly absorbed: our body has evolved to obtain the iron from bio-based forms, like meat,” said Leiva Eriksson.
Some studies highlighted how only a small quantity of iron present in the supplement is correctly absorbed by the body ( between 2-28%), while the rest runs through the body causing oxidative reactions, that provoke the common side effects of iron supplement ingestion: such as dizziness, stomach pain, constipation and nausea.