Grass-Fed Beef Spleen | Nature's Iron

While our Beef Spleen is an excellent source of iron (a full dose provides 26% of the RI) and is highly bioavailable, how you absorb it will vary based on your individual circumstances. With severely low iron or anaemia, it is best to consult with a healthcare professional on what will best suit your needs. 

In our experience with this product, customers have stated that their iron levels have increased, and their energy levels have also increased as a result of supplementing with Beef Spleen consistently. With the daily dose being 4.05mg iron however, it may take some time for your stores to build up, and if you have other coinciding conditions that further impact your absorption, it may take longer. 

If you’re still unsure if this product is right for you, please reach out to our customer service team, where we can better assist your individual situation. 

Everyone’s response to iron is different. How much you absorb depends on your gut health, your current iron levels, your diet and many other factors. Things that may support iron absorption include:

• Supporting gut health and resolving ‘leaky gut’. Read our blog for Josh’s tips here
• Avoiding tea, coffee, grains and dairy around iron supplements as they may block iron absorption
• Increasing your intake of vitamin c rich foods or supplements to increase iron absorption 
• Including heme iron rich foods in your diet alongside supplementation, such as organ meats, grass fed beef, shellfish and poultry. 

The best type of supplement for you depends upon many factors, and if you have severely low iron levels or have been diagnosed with anaemia, this should be discussed with your healthcare practitioner. Research on synthetic and natural sources of iron shows:

• For acute iron deficiency anaemia: doctors often recommend high-dose, synthetic ferrous sulfate or ferrous fumarate due to its rapid, proven ability to replenish iron stores, despite side effects. For chronic low iron or tolerability issues, animal based heme iron supplements (such as beef spleen) may be supportive for those who cannot tolerate synthetic supplements or have conditions that affect non-heme iron absorption.
  
• Whilst synthetic supplements such as ferrous sulphate and ferrous fumarate are often used to treat iron deficiency and are effective, they frequently cause gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea, constipation, vomiting or abdominal pain. Natural animal-based iron very rarely causes this.
  
• Animal-based heme iron is absorbed by the body in a different and often more efficient way than synthetic non-heme iron. Instead of needing to be chemically changed in the gut and competing for the DMT1 transporter, heme iron is absorbed mostly intact through specialised pathways in the gut, which may make it about 200-400% more bioavailable than non-heme forms such as ferrous sulfate and ferrous fumarate. It is also much less affected by dietary blockers like tea, coffee, grains and high amounts of dairy, which can reduce absorption of synthetic iron by up to 90%.  
  
• Synthetic iron supplements may disrupt gut health because unabsorbed iron stays in the intestine, where it can irritate the gut lining, increase oxidative stress, and alter the balance of the gut microbiome. This extra iron may promote growth of less beneficial or even harmful bacteria whilst reducing protective bacteria. This may explain side effects such as nausea, constipation, bloating and gastrointestinal discomfort.
  
• As a natural whole-food supplement, Beef Spleen contains co-factors necessary for balanced absorption and utilisation of iron. For example, alongside iron, our Beef Spleen supplement contains 30% of the RDA for copper. Copper is needed for iron transport and utilisation, important for preventing iron overload and stopping excess copper from being stored in the body. Without sufficient levels of copper, iron can enter the cells of the gut lining, but can get ‘stuck’ in them, preventing the body from using the iron. Your gut lining replaces itself every few days; if that iron is still trapped in the gut cells when they are shed, the iron tends to stay in the digestive tract and leaves the body as waste.

Nothing in nature exists in isolation, and our bodies have evolved to consume a variety of nutrients - never isolated, synthetic vitamins. Consuming isolated supplements such as the commonly prescribed iron variations ferrous sulphate and ferrous fumarate can often lead to side effects such as digestive distress, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, constipation and dark stools. With excessive doses, iron overload can occur too. 

The difference with our Beef Spleen is that it is a completely natural source of heme iron and contains all the necessary vitamins and minerals - such as copper - needed for the body to benefit in a balanced way. This is why we decided to include liver in this blend, as it is not only one of the best sources of heme iron, but copper too.

The full serving of Beef Spleen is 6 capsules, providing 29% of the RI for iron. How much you choose to supplement with will depend on your personal needs. If you have low iron levels, it may be best to choose a higher dose for maximum support. If you do not know your iron levels, choose a lower dosage and build up gradually. For everyone, we recommend starting with 2 capsules per day to monitor how you feel, and increasing from there. Please feel free to reach out to our customer service team who can guide you through the best way for you to begin the supplement. 

Beef Spleen is nature’s most powerful source of iron. It also includes highly beneficial levels of Vitamin A, all B vitamins, vitamin C, Copper, Phosphorus, Selenium and Zinc.

It’s all about consistency. As our products are completely natural and essentially made of powerful foods, it may take a few weeks to notice the full benefits. Ultimately however, the benefits you’ll receive are deeper, longer lasting and far less likely to come with any side effects than synthetic supplements. Everyone is different; some people notice benefits immediately, whereas others will take a little longer. We recommend allowing around 12 weeks to notice the full benefits, as this is the minimum amount of time required by scientific studies to show results. The very best way to feel maximum benefit is to take the best dosage for you, and to be consistent with taking your supplements. 

Learn more about iron, why we need it and the best ways to increase your levels in our blog here.

Beef Liver has a much wider variety and density of nutrients generally, so if you're looking for something to cover as many basis in terms of overall wellbeing as possible, this is what we recommend you opt for. 

However, if you're struggling with Anemia or any of the symptoms of Anemia onset such as; fatigue, irritability, breathlessness, aches and pains, weakness, depression or general tiredness… Beef Spleen is the better option. This is because Beef Spleen is the best natural food source of bioavailable heme-iron, which the body uses to create red cells to carry oxygen around the body and therefore specifically targets the alleviation of these symptoms. 

We recommend taking the full serving of 6 capsules in order to obtain optimal benefit from our Beef Spleen. If you are anaemic or have low iron levels, using Beef Spleen can be an effective way to naturally help raise your levels. To maximise the benefits you can expect from Beef Spleen, try:

Consuming a food high in vitamin C (such as berries, broccoli, peppers or kiwi) alongside your Beef Spleen supplements, as vitamin C can help increase iron absorption. 

Avoiding consuming dairy at the same time as your Beef Spleen supplements, as this can hinder iron absorption.

Many of our customers have been diagnosed as anaemic after following a vegan or vegetarian diet - you can learn more about how to replenish your body after being vegan or vegetarian in our blog here. 

Pregnancy is a very personal and sensitive time, and for this reason we recommend speaking with one of our health advisors or your healthcare provider before taking. 

Whilst Beef Spleen can be a supportive source of natural iron and we know many customers who choose to take it throughout pregnancy, this is not a supplement we specifically created to be used throughout pregnancy and we recommend discussing the use of it with your healthcare practitioner or midwife. Our most popular supplement used throughout pregnancy is our Grass Fed Beef Organs, which provide a wide range of nutrients. We recommend reading Lily Nichols article on consuming organ meats throughout pregnancy here so that you are able to make a confident and educated choice when it comes to consuming these foods throughout pregnancy.

We gently freeze dry raw organs sourced from a grass-fed and organic certified farm to maintain as many of the fragile nutrients and enzymes found within them. 

It takes roughly 15g of raw beef organs to create 6 capsules. Weston A Price and other leading nutritions in this field like Chris Masterjohn recommend consuming around 170-225g of beef liver per week. Our capsules will cover 90g of this split out on a daily basis to ensure the key micronutrients they provide are continuously circulating in your system. We recommend consuming one portion of organ meat (around 80-135g) on top of this per week.

The capsules are a medium size and we haven’t come across anyone so far that’s said they’re too big to swallow. However, if you would prefer to open them and add them to bone broth or other dishes this is absolutely fine.

Our organs come from a grass-fed and organic certified farm where the cattle are free to roam on pasture. We use heart (25%), liver (50%) and kidney (25%) to ensure a wide variety of bioavailable micronutrients. 

 When it comes to animal foods, the organic logo can be a bit of a smokescreen. Technically an animal can be classed as organic if they’re fed on unnatural but organic feed such as cereals or soy. We believe it’s best that animals, like humans, should be eating the foods they have throughout the vast majority of history before the food industry started introducing unnatural foods that are causing disease in modern society.

To this effect, we believe cattle should be eating grass and in addition to this should be living outdoors for as much of the year as weather conditions allow.

For this reason, we only use the organs from cattle that are free to roam on pastures. This means that our cattle eat a natural diet of grass, wildflowers and herbs and are kept outdoors for as long as possible. If they do have to be brought inside due to poor weather, they are fed preserved pasture. That said, the farm the cattle are from is also certified organic and therefore uses no pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics or hormones.