Easily absorbed iron foods Food name (amount) Iron content (mg) Liver (112 g/4 oz) 8.5 Oysters (½ cup) 8 Beans (one cup) 5 Egyptian beans (one cup) 5 Soybeans (one cup) 5 Dark syrup (one tbsp) 5 Artichokes (one cup) 5 Oatmeal lick with iron, 1 oz) 4 to 8 Barley (one cup) 4 Lentils (one cup) 4 Beef (4 oz) 3.5 Sardines (4 oz ) 3.5 Pickles (one cup) 3.5 Pumpkin (one cup) 3.5 Clams (112g/4oz) 3 Dehydrated apricots (½ cup) 3 Dehydrated peaches (one cup) 3 Beets (one cup) 3 Peas (one cup) 2 ~3 Potatoes (one, with skin) 2.7 Tuna (112g/4oz) 2 Shrimp (112g/4oz) 2 Figs (5) 2 Macaroni (one cup) 2 Sunflower seeds (28g/ 1 oz) 2 Collard greens (one) 2 Cherries (½ cup) 1.6 Raisins (½ cup) 1.5 Yeast (1 tbsp) 1.4 Ume plum (5 tbsp) 1.2 Chicken, turkey (112 g/4 oz) 1.2 Bread (one slice) 1 Drupe (28 g/4 oz) 1 Frozen tofu (84 g/3 oz) 1 It may be difficult to say if you are anemic after pregnancy because when you don’t get enough iron , easy fatigue, anger, inability to concentrate, and muscle aches can also occur as a result of pregnancy. In this case, your doctor’s routine blood count (hemoglobin to hematocrit) will reflect whether you are anemic or not. However, even though your hemoglobin and hematocrit are normal, you may still have an inadequate intake of iron. Therefore, if you are still concerned about anemia, ask your doctor to check the ferritin level in your blood, which will provide a more accurate test of whether the iron reserves in your tissues are normal. If the ferritin level is low (less than 20), the tissue iron reserves are inadequate. This is not only bad for the pregnant woman, but also affects the health of the fetus. This is because if a pregnant woman is chronically anemic, she is more likely to give birth to an underweight baby or a premature baby. When your doctor tests your hemoglobin and hematocrit, you may not be anemic because your hemoglobin and hematocrit may be lower than they were before you became pregnant due to the increase in blood volume that usually occurs during pregnancy. This is called “hemoglobin dilution” and the anemia is also called “physiological anemia of pregnancy”.