Are you a coffee drinker? I've read that if one is low in iron that one should not ever drink any coffee for, I think I remember correctly - one hour BEFORE meals and for 2-3 hours after meals.

Coffee inhibits iron absorption -- this is not folklore, there is scads of recent research about this.

If you do a search at google for coffee and "iron absorption" --- you'll retrieve over 20,000 search results!

I try to not drink any coffee after about 1 p.m., but this is easier to TRY than to accomplish.

Anyway, high dose calcium or magnesium or many other substances also interfere with iron absorption.

Also you might want to go to Google NEWS and set yourself up a News Alert so that you are notified anytime that the phrase, "Prevents Iron Deficiency" ever occurs anywhere in a news article -- that way you can keep up to date with the most recent research.