Iron Restore

🩸 Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world — and it is chronically undertreated, misdiagnosed, and supplemented with the wrong forms.

Most people associate iron deficiency with anemia — but iron depletion causes debilitating symptoms long before hemoglobin drops low enough to trigger a diagnosis. Ferritin — the body's iron storage protein — begins depleting silently, and by the time it shows on a CBC, the patient has often been symptomatic for months or years, told their labs are "normal" while their quality of life deteriorates.

In functional medicine, we don't wait for hemoglobin to fall. We look at ferritin (optimal above 50 ng/mL, ideally 70–100 for symptomatic relief), serum iron, TIBC, transferrin saturation, and the full red blood cell picture — because iron, folate, and B12 deficiency can exist simultaneously and compound each other in ways a single marker will never reveal.

Iron deficiency — with or without anemia — looks like:

❌ Profound, unrelenting fatigue that sleep does not resolve ❌ Shortness of breath with minimal exertion ❌ Heart palpitations and racing heart at rest ❌ Cold hands and feet and poor peripheral circulation ❌ Pale skin, pale conjunctiva, and pale nail beds ❌ Brittle nails, hair loss, and hair thinning ❌ Restless legs syndrome — iron is the most overlooked driver ❌ Brain fog, poor concentration, and impaired cognitive performance ❌ Anxiety and mood dysregulation driven by dopamine depletion — iron is a required cofactor for dopamine synthesis ❌ Impaired thyroid function — iron is essential for thyroid peroxidase activity ❌ Poor exercise tolerance and failed athletic recovery ❌ Cravings for ice, dirt, or starch (pica) — a hallmark of severe iron depletion ❌ Immune suppression and slow wound healing ❌ Heavy menstrual periods creating a continuous iron loss cycle that outpaces dietary intake

And yet — most iron supplements make the problem worse in a different way. Ferrous sulfate, the most commonly prescribed iron supplement, has an absorption rate of roughly 10–15%, causes severe GI side effects (constipation, nausea, dark stools, cramping), generates free radical oxidative stress in the gut lining, and disrupts the microbiome. Patients stop taking it because it makes them feel worse. The deficiency continues.

The form of iron matters as much as the dose.

Iron Restore is a precision iron repletion formula — pairing the most bioavailable and GI-friendly iron available with the two cofactors the body cannot synthesize red blood cells without.

✅ Iron as Ferrous Bisglycinate Chelate — Albion Ferrochel® (25mg / 139% DV) — the undisputed gold standard of iron supplementation; Ferrochel bonds iron to two molecules of glycine through a true chelation process, creating a stable, neutral compound that is absorbed intact through intestinal mucosal cells via amino acid transport pathways — completely bypassing the competitive, irritating ionic iron absorption route that makes ferrous sulfate so problematic; the result is dramatically superior absorption (studies demonstrate up to 4x greater bioavailability than ferrous sulfate), minimal to zero GI side effects, no significant impact on the gut microbiome, and no constipation; Albion's Ferrochel is the most clinically studied and validated form of iron chelate in the world, and it is the form Carvalho Wellness uses across every product in our line that contains iron

✅ Folate as Quatrefolic® — (6S)-5-Methyltetrahydrofolic acid glucosamine salt (46mcg DFE / 12% DV) — this is not folic acid; Quatrefolic® is the patented, biologically active form of folate — the exact molecule that enters the folate cycle directly without requiring the MTHFR enzyme for conversion; folate is absolutely essential for red blood cell synthesis; without it, red blood cells cannot divide properly and become large, dysfunctional macrocytes — a condition called megaloblastic anemia; Quatrefolic® is protected by US Patent No. 7,947,662 and is the most bioavailable and MTHFR-safe folate available; up to 40-60% of the population carries MTHFR variants that impair folic acid conversion — this formula bypasses that entirely

✅ Vitamin B12 as Methylcobalamin (300mcg / 12,500% DV) — methylcobalamin is the neurologically active, body-ready form of B12; like folate, B12 is absolutely required for proper red blood cell maturation; B12 deficiency produces identical megaloblastic anemia to folate deficiency — and the two are clinically intertwined; methylcobalamin also protects myelin sheath integrity, supports neurological function, drives homocysteine clearance through the methylation cycle, and supports energy production at the mitochondrial level; the extraordinarily high % DV reflects the fact that B12 is water-soluble, not stored efficiently, and that depletion is widespread — particularly in patients on PPIs, metformin, oral contraceptives, or those with low stomach acid or autoimmune gastric conditions

Other Ingredients: Vegetarian capsule (hypromellose, purified water), rice flour. No sugar, starch, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, wheat, yeast, or soy.

Serving size: 1 vegetarian capsule | 100 servings per container. Take with food as directed by your clinician.

The clinical intelligence of this formula is the combination. Iron deficiency rarely exists in isolation. The same populations most at risk for iron depletion — menstruating women, pregnant women, vegetarians and vegans, patients with GI conditions, those on acid-suppressing medications — are precisely the populations most at risk for folate and B12 deficiency simultaneously. Treating iron alone while leaving folate and B12 depleted produces incomplete recovery. Iron Restore treats the full picture.

This is how functional medicine approaches iron deficiency — not chasing a single number, but restoring the entire red blood cell synthesis pathway.

✅ Albion Ferrochel® Iron | ✅ Quatrefolic® Active Folate | ✅ Methylcobalamin B12 | ✅ MTHFR-Safe | ✅ Zero GI Side Effects | ✅ 100 Servings | ✅ Practitioner-Formulated

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This product contains iron — accidental overdose of iron-containing products is a leading cause of fatal poisoning in children under 6. Keep out of reach of children. If accidental overdose occurs, call a doctor or poison control center immediately.