Iron Deficiency Risk Calculator
Assess your risk of iron deficiency based on diet, lifestyle, and symptoms.
Get personalized recommendations for iron intake.
Iron Deficiency Risk is estimated by evaluating multiple lifestyle and dietary factors that affect iron absorption and loss in the body.
The assessment considers these key factors:
Dietary intake plays the biggest role. People who eat red meat regularly get heme iron, which is absorbed at 15-35% efficiency. Plant-based iron (non-heme) from spinach, lentils, and beans is absorbed at only 2-20% efficiency.
Blood loss factors include menstruation, frequent blood donation, and certain medical conditions. Women of reproductive age need about 18 mg of iron daily, compared to 8 mg for adult men.
Absorption inhibitors reduce how much iron your body actually uses. Coffee, tea, and calcium-rich foods consumed with meals can reduce iron absorption by up to 60%.
Absorption enhancers help your body use more iron. Vitamin C (found in citrus fruits, bell peppers, and tomatoes) can increase non-heme iron absorption by 2-3 times.
Risk scoring, in full. Every factor and its exact weight, out of a maximum of 12:
| Factor | Points |
|---|---|
| Vegan diet | 3 |
| Vegetarian diet | 2 |
| Flexitarian (meat occasionally) | 1 |
| Omnivore | 0 |
| Heavy periods | 3 |
| Light periods | 1 |
| Not menstruating | 0 |
| Tea or coffee with meals, 3+ cups a day | 2 |
| Tea or coffee with meals, 1-2 cups | 1 |
| Rarely | 0 |
| Low vitamin C intake | 2 |
| Moderate vitamin C intake | 1 |
| High vitamin C intake | 0 |
| Intense daily exercise | 2 |
| Moderate exercise | 1 |
| Sedentary | 0 |
A score of 0-2 is low risk, 3-5 moderate, and 6 or more high.
Note that sex is not scored on its own. What actually drains iron is blood loss, so menstruation carries that weight directly. A postmenopausal woman and an adult man have the same 8 mg daily requirement and, all else equal, the same risk from this list. The sex question is here to get the recommended daily figure right, not to add points.
The heaviest single hit on the list is a vegan diet plus heavy periods, which is 6 points before anything else is counted. That combination alone puts you in the high band, and it is the right answer: it is by some distance the most common presentation of iron deficiency in adults.
This is an educational estimate. Only a ferritin blood test can tell you where your iron stores actually are, and a normal hemoglobin does not rule out depleted stores.
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
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