Will longtime intake of iron tablets affects health?
Common side effects when taking iron tables include constipation, nausea, and stomach upsets. However, when not needed (when you just take iron on your own, without a test confirming that you need it), you can really mess up your system because it will interfere with other nutrients in the body, such as zinc, magnesium, calcium, manganese, etc, and eventually affect liver, kidney and heart functions negatively. But assuming that you are indeed low in iron, the best form is CHELATED IRON because of its superior absorption, and requiring much smaller amounts (versus 10x – 20x more required by using ferrous sulfate for instance). Also, consider taking Vitamin C (500mg) along with it for better absorption, and keep in mind that heme iron, from meat, gives you ten times the iron compared to vegetarian sources. From testing thousands of patients, unless caused by bleeding, most of the ones requiring iron also required manganese, which is the associated element to iron.
