Daily Iron Requirements
Women need 18 mg per day. After age 51 iron need decreases to 8 mg per day. Men over age 19 also need 8 mg of iron per day.
Iron in Liver
Beef liver contains 5 milligrams per 3-ounce serving, chicken liver, contains 11 milligrams per 3-ounce serving. A 2 1/2-ounce serving of pork liver supplies 13.4 milligrams. Goose liver contains 28.7 mg per 100-gram, which is approximately 3 ounces. Eating goose liver daily could exceed your iron requirement for the day, which in some cases could cause health problems.
Excessive Iron Risks
If you have hematochromatosis, a disorder which increases the amount of iron your body absorbs, eating liver frequently could cause health complications. People with hematochromatosis absorb 30 percent or more of the iron they consume, according to MayoClinic.com. While iron plays an essential role in carrying oxygen throughout your body, high iron levels can build up and harm vital organs. Eating liver daily, particularly liver high in iron such as goose liver over a period of five to 20 years could cause excess iron to accumulate in your heart, pancreas or liver. Excess iron in the liver can cause liver damage, including an increased risk of liver cancer.
Absorption
The iron in liver is heme iron, meaning that it comes from an animal source. Plants contain nonheme iron. Your body absorbs heme iron more effectively than nonheme iron; you absorb between 15 to 35 percent of the heme iron in liver, compared with between 2 and 20 percent of nonheme iron. Because you absorb more iron from liver than other nonheme iron sources, eating a serving of beef liver that contains 5 milligrams of iron will increase your iron stores more than eating a serving of kidney beans that contains approximately the same amount of iron.