Evaluating products.
How do I choose an iron product — and should anyone buy one without a lab result?
Shelf order follows tolerability and evidence together: bisglycinate leads (the form that keeps people on treatment — comparable absorption, a fraction of the GI cost), ferrous sulfate is the clinical standard at the best price (with its GI trade-off honestly carried), and heme iron polypeptide closes as the gate-bypassing route for the contexts that need it. All three demand the same entrance ticket: a ferritin result, a physician's plan, and a locked cabinet. The products below are educational examples — not medical recommendations.
Thorne Iron Bisglycinate
by Thorne · Chelated Iron
Score
The form that fixes iron's most common failure — the side effects: chelated to glycine, it absorbs at comparable rates to ferrous sulfate with dramatically less GI upset, at lower elemental doses. For deficiency confirmed by bloodwork, under the dosing framework in Chapter 3. 🚨 Confirm deficiency first (ferritin, hemoglobin); hemochromatosis carriers must not self-supplement; keep away from children — iron overdose is a pediatric emergency.
Runner-ups
Nature Made Iron 65 mg
by Nature Made · Ferrous Sulfate
Heme Iron Polypeptide (Proferrin-type)
by Proferrin (various clinical brands) · Heme Iron Polypeptide