Expert: Eric Brandt - 6/23/2009

Question
I just completed a physical and the doctor says I am in pretty good shape for a man 51 years old.  My lab tests indicated that I am slightly anemic but that is normal due to some medication I take for arthritis.  The doctor simply told me to eat a low fat diet to keep my cholestrol down and to take a good multivitamin with Iron to help with the enemia.
There are a bazillion multivitamins out there and some are large enough to choke a horse!  Plus, some have 100% to 500% of the RDA of the vitamins and minerals.  I don't need that much.
Can you recommend a good over the counter multivitamin with some Iron that has 80-100% RDA that I need that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, that isn't so large that I can't swallow it and doesn't contain enough vitamins and minerals for 20 people in one pill?
Thanks

Answer
Hi Brett,
The multivitamins with iron that are on the market do not have enough iron to correct for anemia. You need a single ingredient iron tablet to correct for anemia. The dose would depend on how anemic you are. You can start with a low dose ferrous gluconate 300 mg which give 35 mg elemental iron to see how you tolerate it and do a follow up blood test in 3 months to see in the anemia is correctd.
Thank you for using Allexperts
sincerely,
Eric Brandt, B.Sc. Pharm