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Iron
ADAPT BLOODWORKIN DEVELOPMENT

Iron

Three ingredients for when a blood test shows your iron stores are low: iron in a form that is easier on the stomach, the vitamin C that helps you absorb it, and a little vitamin B12. It is still in development, and the test it depends on, ferritin, is not yet part of the blood panel we run. We would rather tell you that here than let the page suggest otherwise.

WHENMorning, before breakfast
WITH FOODNo. On an empty stomach
DOSE VOLUME0.4 ml, in two 0.2 ml pulses
INGREDIENTS3 active, 0 fillers
CARTRIDGE45 ml · up to 112 mornings
SLOT1 of the 6 in your device
See if it is in your plan Back to the library

WHAT IS IN IT

Three actives. Nothing else.

These are the reference doses of the formula, at the full 0.4 ml. Your device pours in steps of 0.2 ml, so this one has only two steps, and the plan behind it is written for the full dose every morning.

INGREDIENTFORMPER DOSE% NRVWHAT IT IS THERE FOR
IronFerrous bisglycinate28 mg200%Normal formation of red blood cells and haemoglobin. The dose is set for a low ferritin result
Vitamin CL-ascorbic acid / magnesium ascorbate80 mg100%Increases iron absorption. The reason it shares the pour with the iron
Vitamin B12Methylcobalamin10 µg400%Normal red blood cell formation. Low iron and low B12 often turn up together
Total volume0.4 mlTwo pulses of 0.2 ml, the smallest step the device can serve
IronFerrous bisglycinate28 mg200% NRV

Normal formation of red blood cells and haemoglobin. The dose is set for a low ferritin result

Vitamin CL-ascorbic acid / magnesium ascorbate80 mg100% NRV

Increases iron absorption. The reason it shares the pour with the iron

Vitamin B12Methylcobalamin10 µg400% NRV

Normal red blood cell formation. Low iron and low B12 often turn up together

Total volume 0.4 ml 

Two pulses of 0.2 ml, the smallest step the device can serve

No proprietary blends, no "complex" hiding the amounts, no bulking agents. If an ingredient is in the bottle it is in this table, with its form and its dose.

No proprietary blends, no bulking agents. If an ingredient is in the bottle it is in this table, with its form and its dose.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT

All three have an authorised claim. None of them is about your ferritin.

In the EU, only a short list of health claims is authorised. Iron, vitamin C and vitamin B12 are all on it. None of those claims says anything about raising your ferritin. The claims are what we are allowed to say. A blood test is the reason this formula would be on your plan.

Iron

AUTHORISED CLAIM

WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY

“Iron contributes to normal formation of red blood cells and haemoglobin.”

Regulation (EU) 432/2012, on a product that is at least a source of iron. 28 mg is 200% of the NRV, as ferrous bisglycinate, the form our file records as better tolerated than the common ferrous sulphate. EFSA has not set a formal upper limit for iron. The US limit, and the French one for diet and supplements together, is 45 mg a day. The German BfR suggests no more than 6 mg in an everyday supplement, and this formula is well above that. That is why it only goes out on a low ferritin result, for 12 weeks at a time, with a new test at the end.

Reg. 432/2012 · EFSA Journal 2010;8(10):1740 · NRV 14 mg · no EFSA upper limit · 13 sources on file

Vitamin C

AUTHORISED CLAIM

WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY

“Vitamin C increases iron absorption.”

Regulation (EU) 432/2012, on a product that is at least a source of vitamin C. 80 mg is 100% of the NRV, and our file records the required form as L-ascorbic acid or magnesium ascorbate. It is here for this claim: our library records iron and vitamin C as a pair to formulate together, with 50 to 250 mg of vitamin C for each dose of iron. 80 mg sits under every ceiling on file for vitamin C: 2,000 mg a day in the EU record, 1,000 mg for the French ANSES and 250 mg for the German BfR. The formula itself is filed under a different vitamin C claim, “Vitamin C contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism.” We show you both rather than pick the one that sounds better.

Reg. 432/2012 · EFSA Journal 2009;7(9):1226 · NRV 80 mg · 11 sources on file

Vitamin B12

AUTHORISED CLAIM

WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY

“Vitamin B12 contributes to normal red blood cell formation.”

Regulation (EU) 432/2012, on a product that is at least a source of vitamin B12. 10 µg is 400% of the NRV, as methylcobalamin. Our library records iron and B12 as a pair that works together, because low iron and low B12 often turn up in the same person. 10 µg is the maintenance dose in our file, not a dose for refilling low B12 stores: that is what B12 + folate is for. EFSA has not set an upper limit for B12.

Reg. 432/2012 · EFSA Journal 2009;7(9):1223 · NRV 2.5 µg · 8 sources on file

HOW IT IS POURED

Two pulses. Set by your blood test, not by last night.

The full dose of this formula is 0.4 ml, which the device serves as two pulses of 0.2 ml. For some formulas, your band decides how many. For this one, no wearable marker in our library moves the dose: the plan on file is 28 mg of iron a day for 12 weeks, then a new test. One pulse on its own would also drop the vitamin C to 40 mg, below the 50 to 250 mg our library pairs with each dose of iron.

TONIGHT'S POUR

12
0.4 ml of 0.4 mlset by your blood test, not your band

MORNING, BEFORE BREAKFAST

Why then

Iron is absorbed best on an empty stomach, so this is your first pour of the day. The morning also keeps it away from Bones & joints, whose calcium goes out at night: calcium can cut the iron you absorb by around half.

ON AN EMPTY STOMACH

Why not with breakfast

Coffee, tea and dairy all get in the way of iron, and the rule for this formula keeps them 2 hours away from it. Iron can upset the stomach, with nausea, stomach pain, constipation, dark stools or a metallic taste. The bisglycinate form was chosen because our file records it as better tolerated.

45 ML CARTRIDGE

How long it lasts

At 0.4 ml a morning it is up to 112 mornings. One 12-week cycle is 84, so a single cartridge covers the whole cycle.

HOW IT ENTERS YOUR PLAN

An ADAPT formula starts with a blood test. It ends with another.

ADAPT is the part of your plan that follows your bloodwork. It goes in when a result is out of range, runs for a fixed period at a fixed dose, and comes out when a new test says so. This one is still in development, and one piece is missing: the blood panel we run today does not include ferritin.

  1. 01

    It starts with a low ferritin

    It is added when your serum ferritin comes back below 30 ng/ml, the bottom of the normal range in our biomarker library. An iron-deficiency anaemia you report in your questionnaire is the other answer that routes you here. Those are the rules our software follows to assign a formula, not a diagnosis and not a course of treatment. Our current panel covers vitamin D, B12, folate, thyroid, cortisol and hs-CRP, not ferritin, so for now this step cannot start from our own test.

  2. 02

    It runs for 12 weeks

    84 days at 28 mg of iron a day, with the vitamin C in the same pour. Nothing about this formula moves inside that window.

  3. 03

    The next test decides what follows

    At 12 weeks you repeat ferritin and a full blood count. The plan on file reads them against a ferritin of at least 30 ng/ml, with a higher mark of 100 ng/ml, and a haemoglobin in the normal range. Our own file is not consistent about who the 100 ng/ml mark is for: in one place it says someone with symptoms, in another someone at high cardiovascular risk. We have flagged that rather than pick one. If the numbers are where the plan wants them, this formula comes out and you move to your diet, with iron at the reference intake of 14 mg if you need it, which no VION formula carries today. If ferritin has not moved and there is inflammation or a high BMI, the next step in our file is to check hepcidin, where the test is available.

  4. 04

    A 90-day pause before any second cycle

    If your iron runs low again, a second cycle is possible, but only after 90 days off and never more than two cycles in a year. No authority sets those two numbers. They are our own clinical decision, because your body has no active way to get rid of extra iron, and it builds up.

SAFETY AND INTERACTIONS

What it is never served close to.

Every pair of ingredients in our library is checked against the others before a plan is built. Inside this formula, all three pairs are documented: iron with vitamin C and iron with B12 as complementary, and vitamin C with B12 as a timing caution that only applies above 500 mg of vitamin C. The cards below come from that check, and where a pair is not in the table yet, from the timing rule written for this formula and from our monograph on the ingredient. We say which is which.

SPLIT ACROSS WINDOWS

Bones & joints

That formula carries 800 mg of calcium. Our iron monograph records that 300 mg of calcium or more cuts the iron you absorb by around half, and the timing rule written for this formula keeps the two apart: iron in the morning, before food, and Bones & joints at night, so they never share a pour. This one is not from the ingredient-pair table: calcium and iron are not a documented pair in it yet. It comes from the formula's own timing rule and from that monograph.

KEPT APART

Caffeine, curcumin & high-dose vitamin C

Caffeine cuts iron absorption, so Cognitive & focus, Acute energy and Pre-workout are served at least 1 hour away from this one. The curcumin in Systemic inflammation, Muscle damage (CK) and Anti-inflammatory & recovery binds iron, and so does the milk thistle in Liver (ALT / AST): those are kept at least 2 hours away, and all four go out at night anyway. Acute immunity and Cold symptom support carry 1,000 mg of vitamin C, which may break down B12, so they are served at least 2 hours apart as well.

TALK TO A DOCTOR FIRST

Not for everyone

Ruled out if you have hereditary haemochromatosis or any other iron overload, thalassaemia or another iron-loading anaemia, sideroblastic anaemia or porphyria cutanea tarda; if you have liver disease, including active chronic hepatitis; if you have an active bacterial infection; or if you take a vitamin K antagonist such as warfarin or acenocoumarol. Stop it and see a doctor if you notice yellowing skin or eyes, unusual tiredness, abdominal pain or dark urine. Pregnancy and breastfeeding do not rule it out, but iron only goes out on a confirmed deficiency or your obstetrician's advice. Talk to a doctor first if you are under 18, where the upper limit for iron is lower (40 mg); have kidney disease or kidney stones, G6PD deficiency, polycythaemia vera, Leber's optic atrophy or a cobalt allergy; or have cancer or are in cancer treatment. The same if you take other anticoagulants (apixaban, dabigatran), levothyroxine (at least 4 hours apart), quinolone antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin (2 hours before or 6 hours after), tetracyclines, levodopa, captopril or penicillamine (at least 2 hours apart, and our file gives captopril a window of 2 to 4 hours), antacids with calcium, magnesium or aluminium (at least 2 hours apart; with the aluminium ones, the vitamin C in this formula can also raise how much aluminium you absorb, which matters if you have kidney disease), bisphosphonates (at least 30 minutes apart), methyldopa, proton pump inhibitors or H2 blockers (at least 2 hours apart), allopurinol, chloramphenicol, deferoxamine, colchicine, statins with niacin or the contraceptive pill, or if you have had repeated nitrous oxide anaesthesia. On metformin or a proton pump inhibitor long term, tell your doctor: both can lower your B12. An overdose of iron is dangerous to children, so keep the cartridge out of their reach. The app asks before it ever assigns this one.

WHERE THIS COMES FROM

Regulation (EU) 432/2012 on permitted health claims · Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 on nutrient reference values · EFSA Journal 2010;8(10):1740 on iron, red blood cells and oxygen transport · EFSA 2015 dietary reference values for iron · the ANSES upper limit for iron and the BfR maximum levels for food supplements. Every line on this page is tied to one of the 810 sources on file, and 443 of the 9,730 possible ingredient pairs in our library are documented so far.

WHERE IT COMES FROM

You can check every line of this page.

Seven sources hold up this formula: the regulation that lets us make the claims, the reference values we measure against, the EFSA opinion behind the iron claim, the EFSA review of iron intakes, the French upper limit we stay under, the stricter German reference we do not, and a study on the form of iron we use.

REGULATIONRegulation (EU) 432/2012 — list of permitted health claims made on foodsclaims for iron, vitamin C and vitamin B12
NRVRegulation (EU) 1169/2011, Annex XIII Part A — nutrient reference valuesthe 200%, 100% and 400% above
EFSAEFSA Journal 2010;8(10):1740 — opinion on iron and formation of red blood cells and haemoglobin, oxygen transport and immune function (DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1740)behind the iron claim and the 12-week plan on file
EFSA DRVEFSA Journal 2015;13(10):4254 — Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for ironreference intakes; no formal EFSA upper limit
ANSESANSES Avis 2017-SA-0036 — safety of vitamins and minerals in food supplementsiron 45 mg a day from diet and supplements together; we serve 28 mg
BfRBfR-Wissenschaft 03/2018 — Höchstmengenvorschläge für Vitamine und Mineralstoffe in Nahrungsergänzungsmittelniron 6 mg: this formula is above it
STUDYLayrisse et al. The Journal of Nutrition 2000;130:2195 — iron bioavailability in humans from breakfasts enriched with iron bis-glycine chelate, phytates and polyphenolswhy the bisglycinate form

Reviewed by VION nutrition team · last reviewed 16 September 2026

WHAT IS NOT PROVEN YET

This formula is still in development and has not been through clinical validation. Its three ingredients carry authorised EU claims, but none of those claims is about raising your ferritin, and the 12-week plan has not been tested by us in a trial. Ferritin is not yet on the blood panel we run, and the 90-day pause and the two-cycle limit are our own clinical decisions. When the plan is tested, the result goes on this page, whatever it says.

Others in the same area

See all 29 formulas  →
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YOU DO NOT PICK YOUR FORMULAS

Your data does.

The questionnaire and your first weeks of data decide which six of the 29 end up in your device. This page exists so you can read what one of them is before that happens.

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Food supplement. Does not replace a varied diet or a healthy lifestyle. VION does not diagnose or treat any condition. Nothing here replaces a healthcare professional.

Food supplement. Does not replace a varied diet or a healthy lifestyle. VION does not diagnose or treat any condition.