Hi... I just came across your post.... When it comes to vegetarian and vegan nutrition there are two books that I have and consider reliable...
"The New Becoming Vegetarian" by Vesanto Melina, MS, RD & Brenda Davis, RD
and they also have one that is very similar... "Becoming Vegan"
So I looked up the recommendations for iron...
Women, 19-50 - 32.4mg
Women, over 50 - 18.0mg
Men, all ages - 18.0mg
And yes, these are higher than for nonvegetarians...
It mentions that the iron recommendations for vegetarians are multiplied by a factor of 1.8 to account for the lower absorption from plant foods...
It does go on to discuss that all experts do not agree on these increased recommendations for vegetarians... and it offers a lot of useful info on how to get enough iron on a vegetarian or vegan diet...
And of course, there are many multivitamins available that are specifically formulated for vegetarians and vegans that could provide you with a bit of piece of mind...
Good luck...
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