Should you take an iron supplement with food?In an ideal world, you would take an iron supplement on an empty stomach either one hour before, or two hours after a meal. Iron is extremely sensitive to phytates in food & competing minerals like zinc and calcium which can block its absorption. So best practice … if you can … is to take your iron supplement without food. But obviously, this is general recommendations on how to take an iron supplement and shouldn’t replace the directions for use on t