Low-dose oral iron supplementation every second day is safer and more effective for treating iron deficiency than a daily high-dose tablet, new guidance suggests.

And dividing a high dose into twice or thrice daily doses is “physiologically inefficient” and does nothing to improve iron absorption, the Australian researchers say.

In a guidance document published in The Lancet, a team led by clinical haematologist Associate Professor Sant-Rayn Pasricha provides updates on the clinical best practice for management of both absolute and functional iron deficiency.

Professor Pasricha, from the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Anaemia Detection and Control at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, says the evidence base has expanded considerably since the release of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia’s clinical update on iron deficiency five years ago.