Are you iron-deficient, vit.C deficient or actually copper deficient?

Especially good for anemics and women.

(Excerpted from "Solved: the riddle of illness" by Stephen E Langer M.D. and James F Scheer)

pg. 40-41

At best, the body absorbs little more than 10 percent of available iron. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) greatly aids the absorption of iron from the digestive tract. Research done by Drs. Paul R. McCurdy of Georgetown University School of Medicine and Raymond J. Dern of Loyola University Strictch School of Medicine revealed that between 200 and 500 mg of ascorbic acid made it possible for the body to absorb twice as miuch iron (ferrous sulphate, 15 to 120 mg) as without this vitamin. An accompanying dose of 500 mg of Vit C resulted in a much higher absorption of iron from the gut than when smaller doses of this vitamin were given. A Swedish study, in fact, revealed that the US government's recommended daily allowance (RDA) of 60mg of vit C will do nothing to help absorb iron.

Once absorbed, iron is constantly recycled by the body to manufacture new red blood cells from worn-out ones. Women, however, lose iron with their menstrual flow, and must therefore replace it in their diets. After absorption, iron must be assimilated by the cells in order to manufacture the hemoglobin necessary to carry oxygen throughout the body. To enable this to happen, another essential mineral, copper--found in liver, other organ meants, bonemeal, legumes, molasses, nuts, rasins and seafood--must be present. If, as is often the case, copper is in short supply, the blood's oxygen carrying efficiency may be sharply diminished.