Figure 4. Iron intakes from diet and iron supplements.

The nine individuals using ferrous sulphate, ferrous gluconate, ferrous fumarate or other iron supplements, are illustrated with pairwise comparisons of their dietary iron intake from the FFQ (left red bar) and dietary FFQ intake plus their supplement iron intake (right red bar) in addition to each individual’s log(RDA) and personalised log(HAIR), which were calculated according to their personalised iron losses and RDA for iron. As in Figure 1, note that generally short (0.5–2.5 min) nosebleeds less than once per month resulted in log(HAIR) of approximately 2; several nosebleeds per week of 5 minutes or more in a log(HAIR) of ∼3; daily 10 min nosebleeds a log(HAIR) of ∼4, and several nosebleeds per day, each lasting 2.5–10 minutes, in a log(HAIR) of 5. The two highest intakes were seen in individuals using ferrous sulphate 325 mg bd; the next six in users of once daily ferrous sulphate or ferrous fumarate.