IRON
OVERLOAD
by Dr. Lawrence
Wilson
©
February 2019, LDWilson Consultants, Inc.
Definition
Iron toxicity is common.
Iron toxicity is serious.
A metabolic or a hereditary
disorder?
Nutritional balancing can be
helpful
Food and Diet
Other Sources
Difficulty Eliminating Iron
III. PHYSIOLOGY, PATHOLOGY AND SYMPTOMS OF
IRON TOXICITY
Biounavailable
Iron
How Toxic Iron Damages The Body
Organ And Tissue Effects Of
Toxic Iron
Symptoms
Blood Tests And Liver Biopsy
Hair Mineral Analysis Indicators
Of Iron Imbalance
Nutritional Balancing
Dietary Restriction
Phlebotomy or Giving Blood
Chelation
The Roles Of Iron In The body
Iron Deficiency
Prevention
Iron Imbalances On Blood Tests
Definition. Iron toxicity means there is too much iron in the body. However, this is not as simple as it
may appear. For example, we find
that excess iron is in a biounavailable form, such as an oxide. In other words, there is not too much
available iron. Instead, toxic
forms of iron build up in the body.
The condition is acquired,
meaning it is rare at birth. It
can be due, at least in part, to genetic susceptibility, or may be due to other
factors such as eating too much red meat or eggs, or taking iron pills.
Danger
of iron pills. Taking iron pills for more than a month
is quite dangerous. For this
reason, women must not stay on prenatal vitamins after their baby is born. These vitamin tablets often contain a
lot of iron.
Iron toxicity is
common. Iron is a vital mineral in the human
body. Iron overload, however, is
deadly. Most physicians believe it
is rare and mainly hereditary. In fact, it is far more common and more
dangerous than many people imagine.
Iron toxicity is
serious. Conditions in which iron can be a
factor include diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, other inflammatory
conditions, oxidant damage, AlzheimerÕs disease and cancer. Others include chronic infections, hair
loss, hypothyroidism, hyperactive behavior, violence, attentions deficit
disorder, and other health conditions.
A
metabolic or a hereditary condition? Traditionally,
iron toxicity was considered mainly a hereditary condition. However, recent articles in the New England Journal of Medicine and
elsewhere indicate that a person may have iron overload without having either
the hemochromatosis gene or other obvious reasons for the problem such as
multiple blood transfusions or other obvious exposure.
In a study of heart disease, 13%
of those screened had indicators of iron overload. This cannot be explained by heredity. It also correlates with findings in our
clients and that of other researchers and physicians using development science.
Difficult
to identify. A problem with iron overload is that
standard blood tests will often not reveal it unless it is far advanced. As a result, doctors do not find it, in
most cases.
Difficult
to treat medically. Another problem with iron overload is
that medical treatment for it is crude – removing blood. This method is also harmful because
removing blood causes a loss of many nutrients, worsening malnutrition that is
already common in the population.
A development program
is very helpful. A properly designed development program
can reverse iron toxicity. This is
true even in some advanced cases of those with a diagnosis of hemosiderosis and
hemochromatosis. The latter two
diseases are considered hereditary and incurable, but this is not always true,
in our experience.
For a short case history, see
the Testimonials
Page on this website. For more
details, read Hemochromatosis.
Iron toxicity can result from:
1. Too much iron in the diet.
2. Other sources, such as iron in
supplements, iron in the water, or occupational exposure.
3. Excessive absorption of iron
from the diet.
4. Inability to eliminate enough
iron from the body. This can be
due to physical factors, or mental factors, as described below.
Iron toxicity can also be due to
a combination of these factors.
Let us discuss these causes in more detail.
IRON IN FOODS
Some say that the
average American diet includes excess iron for men, but perhaps not enough for
menstruating women. I firmly disagree
with this because many women today have iron toxicity, as revealed on hair
mineral analyses.
Oddly, these same
women can have anemia and require supplementary iron in a bioavailable
form. These are usually women who
have heavy menstrual periods.
Foods high in iron.
These fall into two main groups:
1. Those that contain
heme iron.
2. Those that contain
other forms of iron, including iron added to some foods. This is important because heme iron is
better absorbed than other forms of iron.
Heme iron foods.
These include organ meats such as liver and kidneys, and all red
meats. Dark meat chicken and dark
meat turkey also contain some heme iron.
Products from the sea may also contain some, such as tunafish, clams,
oysters and perhaps other shellfish.
Nutritional
balancing programs strictly limit these foods, as explained later in this
article.
Non-heme iron foods.
These include egg yolk, kelp, blackstrap molasses, brewerÕs
and torula yeast, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, dark green vegetables, and soybeans.
White
Flour Products. An important source of excess iron can
be refined wheat flour products.
(The product is labeled as wheat flour, but it means refined white
flour. Only whole
wheat flour really is the genuine article.)
In the 1920s, it was found that
animals fed a diet of white flour developed serious neurological diseases and
then died. Instead of banning this
product, the US Food and Drug Administration declared that most white flour
products must be ÒenrichedÓ with iron and a few vitamins to ÒcorrectÓ the
problem.
However, the ÒenrichmentÓ makes
for an even worse situation, in many cases, that contributes to diabetes, heart
disease and cancer. The reasons
are:
1. ÒEnrichmentÓ enhances the
iron content far more than was originally in the whole wheat
flour. This can increase iron in
the diet too much.
2. The form of enrichment is either iron sulfate, iron fumarate, or NaFeEDTA. These can easily change into a toxic
form of iron such as an oxide.
3. The body requires minerals
and will absorb whatever is available.
White flour is mainly stripped of its trace elements, creating a
nutritionally deficient food. The
iron is plentiful. Thus the body
absorbs more of it than it would if there were a natural balance of minerals in
the flour. This also unbalances
the body.
4. Iron is selectively absorbed
by the body,
to begin with. This is a survival
mechanism because of the great importance of iron for oxygen transport in the
blood.
This combination can easily
contribute to iron toxicity.
I hope this explains the serious
problems with bleached, refined white flour, labeled as Òwheat flourÓ or
Òenriched flourÓ.
Iron
in water supplies. In certain areas of America and around
the world, the ground water is very high in iron. This occurs because the water passes through rocks
containing iron, or it could be due to industrial contamination, in a few
cases. Wells should always be
tested for iron contamination.
OTHER SOURCES OF IRON
1. Vitamin
Supplements And Tonics With Iron. Doctors and
some health food advocates recommend iron and iron-containing potions, even
when they are not indicated medically.
Some prescription and a number of over-the-counter drugs also contain
iron.
Prenatal vitamins may contain lots of iron, and
many women are told to just stay on their prenatal vitamin after the birth of a
child. This is not good advice.
2. Alcohol intake
of any amount
tends to worsen iron toxicity because alcohol depletes zinc, an important iron
antagonist.
3. Occupational
Exposure. Welders, electrical workers who
use solder, iron and pipe workers, steel fabricators and other occupations may
expose one to enormous quantities of toxic iron.
4. Congenital Iron
Toxicity (excessive iron present at birth). Most children
today are born with some excess iron.
They may still be anemic because their iron is not all bioavailable (see
the section on biounavailability).
Large amounts of white flour,
red meats and vitamins with iron consumed by young women can contaminate their
bodies with iron. Some is passed
on through the placenta to their children, causing chronic infections,
developmental delays and behavior and learning disorders among other childrenÕs
conditions.
5. Iron cookware. Iron cookware is a potential source of toxic iron if used to
cook tomatoes or other acidic foods.
Rarely is this a major problem, however, if the other sources are not in
the picture.
6. Emotional Iron
Sources.
Holding on to oneÕs anger or rage appears to keep iron in the body. While this is not a source of iron
toxicity, it still has an extremely damaging effect.
While some anger is normal and
even healthy at times, dwelling on oneÕs anger when it is time to let it go has
this effect on our bodies.
7. Hemochromatosis
and hemosiderosis are genetic causes for iron overload.
DIFFICULTY
ELIMINATING IRON
The other cause of iron
toxicity, besides taking in too much iron, is difficulty
eliminating iron. Everyone
has some difficulty eliminating iron.
However, some people have much
more difficulty than others. An
indicator of this difficulty is found on hair mineral tests as a poor
eliminator pattern. This
topic is discussed later in this article under the heading of Hair Mineral
Tests And Iron.
III. PHYSIOLOGY, PATHOLOGY AND SYMPTOMS OF IRON TOXICITY
BIOUNAVAILABLE IRON
In all cases of iron toxicity,
iron that accumulates is in a biounavailable form. This is very important to know.
Biounavailable means that iron is present, but
cannot be utilized properly. The
biounavailable compound of form of iron is iron
oxide. Reasons why this occurs
are:
1. Iron may be absorbed in an oxide
form from food or other sources, such as drinking water.
2. Iron is converted to the oxide
form because it is needed as a support for the adrenal glands or other glands
in the body.
Biounavailability
and testing for iron. Biounavailability may cause the iron
levels on hair tissue mineral tests and even blood tests to appear low when
they are really normal or even high.
Please recall this well.
Biounavailable Iron Effects On
The Adrenal Glands or the Nervous System. Biounavailable iron appears to
irritate the adrenal glands or perhaps other parts of the nervous system. This appears to have the effect of
pushing up the sodium readings on hair tissue mineral analyses when the test is
performed without washing the hair at the laboratory.
This seems to be an adaptive
mechanism to help boost adrenal activity and maintain the sodium level in the
tissues, which is very important.
However, it is a toxic mechanism that does not produce health. Manganese, aluminum and perhaps other
minerals, especially in a biounavailable and toxic form such as oxides, appear
to do the same thing.
These are called the ÔfriendsÕ
or ÔamigosÕ for this reason, and are often found together in the bodies of slow
oxidizers, in particular. Slow
oxidizers have exhausted adrenals and are the ones most needing a boost,
perhaps. This topic is discussed
in more detail in the article entitled Iron,
Manganese and Aluminum.
HOW IRON DAMAGES THE
BODY
1. Iron Replaces
Other Vital Minerals Causing Enzyme Dysfunction. Understanding this requires knowledge of the concept of preferred minerals. It basically states that all enzymes in
the body have ideally a certain mineral in each binding site that allows the
enzyme to function most efficiently.
If, however, the preferred mineral is not available, the
enzyme will accept a less preferred
mineral in its place to allow the enzyme to function at all.
Iron replaces other vital
minerals such as zinc, copper manganese, and many others in hundreds or even
thousands of enzyme binding sites.
This cause the enzymes to malfunction and leads
to many physical and emotional symptoms.
The problem of mineral
replacement is made worse by the fact that all minerals compete for
absorption. Iron enjoys a
selective advantage. That is, it
is selectively absorbed because of its essential role in oxygen transfer. This mechanism of iron absorption
definitely works against a person who is eating white flour, lots of red meat,
and perhaps smokes or drinks a little alcohol, for example. Adding orange juice at breakfast makes
it worse, because vitamin C enhances iron absorption greatly.
The person becomes greatly
saturated with iron at the expense of other trace elements that are already
deficient in the food supply.
2. Inflammation. When
iron replaces other elements in the body, in addition to enzyme malfunction,
the next most important problem it causes is inflammation.
This occurs because iron
attracts oxygen directly to it.
Then, when it contacts delicate body tissues, the singlet oxygen
molecules, termed free radicals, detach and destroy body tissues. This mechanism is called oxidant damage
or free radical damage, a potent cause of inflammation.
Oxidant damage contributes to
many other problems as well. These
include insufficient repair of the organs and tissues to meet the needs of the
body. This, in turn, can cause
every disorder imaginable from heart disease to cancer to hyperactive behavior.
Aging is though to be caused by
oxidant damage and it may be a direct effect of iron toxicity. This is rarely diagnosed, however,
unless one happens to undergo special blood tests or a liver biopsy for iron.
3. Toxic Iron
Oxide. Iron oxide is formed when iron combines
with several atoms of oxygen at once.
It is biologically useless and quite toxic as well
4. Bacterial
Growth Stimulant. Due to its properties as an excellent
oxygen transporter, iron tends to stimulate the growth of common bacteria. This is a significant cause for chronic
infections in our population.
5. Cellular Poison
(Cancer). Imbalances related to iron reduce the
output of cellular energy in the body.
This leads directly to cancer, which is basically a parasite on the
human body. It uses an inferior
energy generating system based on direct conversion of sugar to energy without
the many intermediary steps associated with the Krebs and glycolysis cycles.
Iron
Synergists. Certain substances and
situations favor iron accumulation and absorption. These invariably make iron poisoning worse.
For example, vitamin C and other
acidic substances like tomatoes can increase iron absorption. Copper can be an iron synergist as
well, although it is also an iron antagonist in the intestinal tract. This means it competes with iron for
absorption in the intestines.
Copper can build up in the body
to mask the presence of iron. This
often occurs and is revealed on some hair tissue mineral analyses.
Other iron synergists would
include white flour products for a variety of reasons other than their iron
content. For example, any
mineral-deficient food will enhance absorption of iron if iron is present in
the diet, as it often is.
Other iron synergists are
stress, anger, frustration, resentment, hostility, fear and other such negative
emotions. The mechanisms for this
are more complex and beyond the scope of this article. See the section on iron in the hair
tissue analyses for some elaboration of this topic.
ORGAN AND TISSUE
EFFECTS OF EXCESSIVE OR BIOUNAVAILABLE IRON
We have discussed the major
types of damage caused by iron excess.
Each of these mechanisms affects all the organs and tissues of the
body. Thus the damage done by iron
and other toxic metals with similar properties is very complex and comprehensive. However, some organs and tissues
are damaged more extensively than others by iron.
For example, all organs and
tissues are affected by generalized inflammation. The manifestation will vary, however, depending on the
function or functions of the particular organ or tissue and upon its resonance
or its generalized response to the presence of excessive iron.
Organs that may be most affected
by iron are the pancreas, liver,
kidneys, brain, heart, arteries, and joints. This is not so much because the mineral deposits there. In fact, more iron is in the liver than
elsewhere, but so are many other minerals deposited there. It is more about the resonance or
response of the organ to the energy or structure, more properly,
of the iron molecule or combinations that iron forms with oxygen and other
elements.
The
liver and iron. The liver can be saturated with iron,
and in Chinese medicine the liver is the seat of iron. It is associated with an attitude of
anger and rage. Iron also
accumulates in the amygdala, a part of the brain associated with anger and
rage.
However, it can accumulate
everywhere in the brain and is certainly one cause of dementia related to
aging, since iron accumulates with age, as a general rule. As it does so, it replaces other vital
minerals such as chromium, molybdenum, selenium, germanium and others in vital
organs, glands and tissues.
SYMPTOMS AND
CONDITIONS OF IRON TOXICITY
Physical Ailments Associated With Iron Poisoning.
1) Diabetes. This is known in the medical literature
and is sometimes referred to as bronze
diabetes. However, we feel
that researchers will learn that more than this is due to iron overload, in
subtle ways. Iron replaces many
minerals that can give rise to symptoms of diabetes.
2. Cancer. Many cases of cancer
are indirectly caused by or related to iron toxicity from non-hereditary
causes.
3. Nervous System Diseases. These may include ParkinsonÕs disease, AlzheimerÕs disease and behavioral abnormalities, including violence, anti-social behavior,
ADHD, autistic characteristics and other.
A bad temper is often related to iron toxicity, as mentioned
earlier. People with multiple sclerosis also often have
elevated iron in their brains.
4. Hypertension And All Cardiac
Conditions. Iron has an ability to
enhance the hardness of the arteries, as does cadmium. So the blood pressure rises, without
any obvious cause. Arrhythmias,
congestive heart failure, cardiac stenosis, cardiomyopathy and others are
included in the list of cardiac difficulties that are known to occur with
hemosiderosis and hemochromatosis and can occur with acquired iron overload as
well.
5. Kidney Problems of Many
Types. Iron can accumulate here,
causing hypertension, renal failure and other difficulties.
6. Inflammatory Symptoms. These include a wide range of disorders
and syndromes, ranging from rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and SjogrenÕs
syndrome to lupus, myelination diseases such as multiple sclerosis and others.
7. Milder forms of inflammation
such as random aches and pains, premenstrual syndrome, headache syndromes and
so many other inflammatory conditions that may occur in children and adults.
BLOOD TESTS AND
LIVER BIOPSY
Blood tests are not reliable
with early cases. The indicators
include:
- Iron greater than 350 mcg/dl
- Glucose greater than 150 mg/dl
- White blood cells greater than 15,000
- Elevated liver enzymes
- Ferritin greater than 1000 mcg/dl
- A low ferritin can mean low iron. However, it can also mean
biounavailable iron. In this situation,
too much iron is present in the body, but it is unavailable. It is usually a
toxicity with iron oxide or other biologically unavailable iron.
A liver biopsy is better, but is not done often because it
is somewhat invasive and somewhat dangerous.
HAIR MINERAL
ANALYSIS AND IRON
Hair tissue mineral analysis is
helpful to identify an iron imbalance in most cases, but one must not just use the
hair iron level. Here are
the main indicators:
1. HAIR TISSUE IRON GREATER THAN
ABOUT 2 MG%. This indicator
applies mainly to an initial hair mineral test, though not necessarily. On a retest, during a nutritional
balancing program, the hair iron often elevates as the body eliminates excess
iron through the hair, so the indicator is less reliable on retests.
2. IRON IN THE POOR ELIMINATOR
RANGE. This is a hair tissue iron
level of less than 1.2 mg%. Hair
must not be washed at the laboratory for accurate readings.
A poor eliminator pattern
indicates the body is having difficulty eliminating
iron. For more on this critically
important mineral analysis pattern, read Poor
Eliminator Pattern on this website.
3. ELEVATED ÔAMIGOSÕ, SUCH AS
MANGANESE OR ALUMINUM, IN MOST CASES.
When aluminum is above about 0.4 mg% or manganese is greater than about
0.04 mg% in the hair tissue, iron toxicity with biounavailable iron is almost
always present.
This is why iron, manganese and aluminum are called the
ÒamigosÓ. They are found together,
like friends. For more on this
important topic, please read Iron, Manganese
And Aluminum on this webiste.
4. OTHER ÔAMIGOSÕ IN THE POOR
ELIMINATOR RANGE. This means that
aluminum or manganese, usually, are very low in the
hair. The poor eliminator range
for aluminum is when it is less than 0.2 mg% and for manganese when it is less
than about 0.015 mg%.
Ideal
Hair Iron Levels.
The ideal iron level in the hair is about 1.9-2 mg% or 20 parts per million in
an unwashed hair sample. This fact
is important because, at this time (2016), the ideal level on a hair mineral
chart from Analytical Research Labs is much too high at 3.5 mg%. The suggested ideal value varies from
lab to lab.
Often doctors just read the
level as low, high or normal. It
is important to actually review the level, not just whether it seems low,
normal or high.
Iron
is difficult for the human body to eliminate. This may be because iron is such an essential mineral. The body conserves iron carefully,
rather than risk excreting too much.
Humans often had to survive on low-iron diets for months, so iron
conservation was essential.
Today we have the opposite
situation in many parts of the world.
White flour in enormous amounts, along with some red meat and iron-rich
vegetables are eaten in abundance in most developed nations. Also, excessive iron in the air and
water supplies are common. The
only methods we are aware of to remove excess iron from the body are:
1. A development program.
2. Phlebotomy or bleeding
(removing blood).
3. Iron chelating drugs.
4. Restricting iron intake.
Let us discuss each of these
methods:
Nutritional
balancing programs. A properly designed nutritional balancing program easily removes ONLY
toxic iron from the body. I am surprised how easily and how
consistently this occurs. This
type of regimen combines six or seven methods of eliminating iron at once. Iron is removed gently, quickly in most
cases, and very safely. Here are
the basic components of this program:
1) Diet. Iron toxicity can be caused by
dietary imbalances. The
nutritional balancing diet rules are:
1. No organ meats.
2. No shellfish and
no tunafish. The only fish allowed
are 3-4 cans of sardines per week for adults, and less for children.
3. No white flour
products.
4. Animal protein
may only be eaten twice daily.
This includes all meats, poultry, fish, seafood and eggs.
5. Portion size for
adults is no more than 4-5 ounces of animal protein food per serving.
2) More Rest, Emotional Adjustment, if needed, And A
Healthful, Low-Stress Lifestyle. Rest, stress
reduction and releasing negative emotions are essential for the best
results.
Emotions such as anger, rage and
resentment greatly increases iron retention in some individuals. The body seeks to maintain adequate
adrenal activity by retaining iron and manganese, among other minerals. These, in fact, can irritate weak
adrenal glands, which keeps the adrenals pumping out hormones when they would
prefer rest.
3) Reduce The Activity Of The Sympathetic Nervous System. The sympathetic nervous system
inhibits proper digestion, proper elimination and many other vital body
functions. It is a fight-or-flight
response that millions of people are caught in.
To help reduce sympathetic
nervous activity, sauna therapy and the use of foods and nutrients that relax
the nervous system are most helpful.
This includes the avoidance of all stimulants and refined sugars
(including most fruit and juices).
Fruit should be limited as most of it contains excessive sugars and often
pesticide residues. Also,
excitotoxins are dangerous for the person with iron toxicity. These include chemicals that stimulate
the sympathetic system such as caffeine, MSG and aspartame (also called Equal
or Nutrasweet).
Supplements such as calcium/magnesium,
zinc, copper, ox bile and pancreatin have a parasympathetic effect.
Other methods to reduce
sympathetic nervous activity include meditation, relaxation, rest with daily
naps, and other lifestyle modifications designed to relax a person.
4) Balance the oxidation rate, as revealed on a properly
performed hair tissue mineral analysis. This is most important because
this balancing, done with foods, nutrients, lifestyle changes and some basic
detoxification procedures, will increase the efficiency of energy
production. Increased cellular or
adaptive energy can assist every healing process. This balancing process is unique to this program. The other components can be used
without the balancing, but the program will not be as effective.
5) Assist the Eliminative Organs.
Any method that
assists the liver, kidneys, bowels and skin will help remove iron, as well as
all other toxic substances in the body.
Many methods are available to do
this. Nutritional balancing uses
near infrared saunas, coffee enemas, and, at times, herbs such as milk thistle,
black radish, dandelion or uva ursi to assist the activity of the colon,
kidneys and liver, primarily.
Relaxation methods, foot
reflexology, acupressure, acupuncture or others could also be helpful, if needed,
which they are usually not.
The skin is another important
route through which the body appears to be able to remove iron. Nutritional balancing encourages the
use of near or far infrared sauna therapy for everyone. Details of how to
improve skin elimination is the subject of Sauna Therapy, a
book by this author. Also see the Sauna Therapy article on www.drlwilson.com.
6. Support The Sodium Level. This is vital, in fact, for
iron removal. Supporting the
sodium level with a proper diet and the optimum nutritional supplements and
other methods is required to remove iron in most cases. This is because a toxic and
biounvailable form of iron appears to be used by the body to support the tissue
sodium level. To remove the iron
adaptation, one might call it, one must support the
sodium in other ways. Otherwise,
all the other methods will not work well.
This particular aspect of nutritional balancing science is the trickiest
to do and the most important as well.
It permits the body to excrete much more iron quickly.
It involves giving the right
amount of other supportive minerals such as manganese, chromium, selenium and
zinc, along with the appropriate vitamins, glandular products and digestive
aids. Dr. Paul Eck figured out
these doses some 35 years ago and we seem unable to improve upon them.
7) Iron Antagonists. These have been discussed above and include minerals such
as zinc, selenium, sulfur, manganese and other nutrients. Hair analysis, when interpreted
according to the method of Dr. Paul Eck, can carefully guide us in giving
antagonists that do not worsen the balance of the body chemistry. This is a very important consideration
when giving iron antagonists or any supplements to help remove iron.
8) Chelators. Nutritional balancing does not require chelators such as
EDTA, deferoxamine or IP-6. They
are not needed and have many problems that are discussed below. Small amounts of vitamin C and sulfur-bearing
amino acids such as L-taurine, L-cysteine and L-methionine may be used at
times.
Products such as ALA (alpha
lipoic acid), NAC (N-acetyl cysteine) and others could be used, but we find
them unnecessary. They also add
cost and inconvenience to the programs.
Also, they can ruin the programs because they are too yin in Chinese
medical terminology.
Once again, all supplements must
be given in a way that does not unbalance the oxidation rate, as this will slow
or even stop progress rather than enhancing it.
9) Digestive Assistance. While this may increase iron absorption somewhat, this
problem is more than offset by assisting one to better absorb other competing
minerals that are needed to help remove excess iron from the body.
The digestive aid we like best
contains pancreatin, ox bile and Russian black radish. A brand is called GB-3 from Endomet
Labs. It has many other benefits
discussed in a separate article entitled GB-3.
For example, it has a
parasympathetic effect, which is very beneficial. It may also protect somewhat against the development of
cancer, which is one of the results of iron toxicity. The pancreatin helps digest the coating on cancer cells,
rendering them susceptible to removal by white blood cells.
Pancreatin also digests foreign
proteins in the intestines, including some parasites, yeasts and other harmful
organisms. These are very common
in iron-toxic people. Pancreatic
enzymes can also be helpful to assist the body to produce plenty of bile to
help eliminate iron.
MEDICAL METHODS
FOR REMOVING IRON
1. Bloodletting. Phlebotomy (removing blood by
intravenous needle) is the major method used to reduce iron levels, especially
in chronic cases. The advantages
of this method are it is very fast (too fast) and it is relatively easy for the
patient.
Adverse effects of bloodletting
include:
1) Fatigue and weakness
temporarily, at least.
2) Depletion of many other
nutrients besides iron. This is
potentially a very devastating side effect in some cases of iron excess that
can even worsen the iron condition.
3) Masking of the real problem,
since bloodletting does not address deeper causes of iron toxicity. In other words, this method does not
restore true health.
4) Subtle defects in the body
may show up with repeated bloodletting, as the blood carries much more than
just minerals. Removing blood on a
frequent basis carries other subtle risks for this reason.
5) Removal of some bioavailable
iron when the real goal is just to remove biounavailable iron, ideally.
2. Chelating Drugs. Iron chelators such as deferoxamine will remove some
iron. This method is not used much
because deferoxiame is very toxic.
Other problems with iron chelators include:
a) Other vital minerals and
other substances may be removed
b) This method removes both
available and biounavailable iron, which is not as good.
c) It does not address the
underlying causes.
3. Natural Chelating Agents. These are
sometimes used by holistic doctors. They include green tea extract. One can drink green tea, but it is not as effective as the
extract that contains concentrated polyphenols and tannins. These tend to bind some iron and
prevent its absorption into the body.
However, it is not effective enough, and from the standpoint of
nutritional balancing, green tea and the extract are much too yin.
Another natural chelator is vitamin C. However, vitamin C enhances iron
absorption, so it wonÕt work orally, and it is not good enough when given
intravenously.
Another natural chelator is
phytic acid found in some grains or in preparations such as IP-6. This inhibits iron absorption from the
intestine. It does not remove
stored iron, however.
Disadvantages of the natural
iron chelators are the same as the drug chelators. They can and do remove other essential minerals, which
seriously and sometimes gravely imbalances the body chemistry.
Also, chelation does not address
the cause of the problem. This
usually results in a re-accumulation of iron and a need for repeated
treatments.
Phytic acid products such as
IP-6 are particularly dangerous as they remove a lot of calcium, magnesium and zinc which are all vital nutrients and already deficient in
most people today. Vitamin C can
lower copper significantly, causing very severe problems in some people if used
repeatedly.
OTHER WAYS THE
BODY ELIMINATES SOME IRON
Menstruation removes a lot of toxic iron in
young women. As a result,
menstruating women are usually protected from the ravages of iron
toxicity. This is an important
reason women may live longer than men.
Cysts
and tumors. On occasion, a tumor forms that
contains either solid iron particles or liquid that contains iron. This will appear as pathology to a
medical doctor, but may, in fact, be a healing
process. Removal may be best if
the body is unable to drain and eliminate the tumor by itself.
NUTRITIONAL
APPROACHES TO AVOID OR USE WITH CARE IN CASES OF IRON TOXICITY
1. Diets with a lot of meat.
2. Too many supplements. These are yin, in almost all cases, no
matter what other benefits they offer.
3. Too much vitamin C. As mentioned above, be careful with
vitamin C, which tends to increase iron absorption.
PREVENTION OF IRON
OVERLOAD
The way to prevent iron overload is:
- Eat 2-3 cups of soft-cooked vegetables with every meal. This provides the alkaline reserve
minerals that compete with iron and help the body get rid of excess iron. The
most important are the roots and the cruciferous vegetables. Greens are higher in iron, so these are
not as helpful. Do not substitute other foods for this, such as fruit or
grains.
- Eat red meat only twice per week, and the portion size should be
only 4-5 ounces each time.
- Avoid alcohol and avoid all white flour products.
- Do not take iron pills on a chronic basis unless you are pregnant.
THE ROLES OF IRON
Iron has three major
roles in the body:
1. It
helps transport oxygen to the cells from the lungs. Hemoglobin is the main iron-bearing
substance in the body. It carries
oxygen to all the body cells. Any problems in this system and a person becomes very tired and
will die if it is not corrected.
This is the single most critical function of iron in our bodies.
2.
Iron is needed for energy production in every cell. Energy production requires the
conversion of sugars, fats and proteins into adenosine triphosphate or ATP, the
form that the body uses for all its activities and healing as well. Iron, as well as
copper, are required for energy production. Low energy will result in cancer eventually in every person
with iron problems.
3.
Catalase Production. Catalase is an
enzyme that travels around the body and picks up free oxygen atoms called free
radicals. This protects the body
from free radical damage, a very important function.
4.
Other Roles. Iron is also involved
in the sense of direction. Human
beings and the animals, especially birds, use the magnetic properties of iron,
manganese and other magnetic elements to navigate the globe with amazing
accuracy. Small deposits of these
ferrous metals in the brain are used like compasses to direct the creature on
its way.
IRON DEFICIENCY
Let us say a few words about
iron deficiency, a much more well-known problem. This is a severe problem in certain
parts of the world, especially Africa where malaria and other parasitic
diseases cause blood destruction and other problems.
In America, it is found most
often in poor children, those with chronic illnesses or bleeding that can
deplete iron rapidly, in some menstruating women and in strict vegetarians.
In many cases of iron deficiency
anemia, as it is called, the cause is not really poor iron levels. It is copper toxicity, and or
biounavailable iron. This concept
was presented earlier in this article.
This is a most confusing aspect of Òiron deficient anemiaÓ. In fact, many physicians prescribe iron
to patients who do not need it, including most menstruating women who have
copper toxicity and copper biounavailability causing their anemia. This wastes their time and leads to
worsening iron overload problems in these young women.
We hope that this article will
bring to the attention of physicians the need to be more careful before
prescribing iron pills to their patients, including those who appear to have an
iron-deficiency anemia.
IRON IMBALANCES ON
BLOOD TESTS
Serum Iron deficiency. Most of the time when a blood test reveals iron deficiency,
the cause is a copper imbalance.
Copper is required to convert the ferric to the ferrous form of iron and
it is required for the incorporation of iron into hemoglobin.
Other common causes of a low
serum iron are eating a vegetarian diet, heavy menstrual periods, (also often
related to following a vegetarian or near-vegetarian diet) and possibly other
malnutrition.
Elevated serum ferritin. This occurs, commonly when a person
follows a nutritional balancing program.
The reason is that the body is eliminating excess iron and requires more
ferritin to transport the toxic excess iron through the bloodstream.
This
serum imbalance during a nutritional balancing program is of no concern and can
be ignored. In fact, it is a sign
of healing. So far, in all cases,
elevated serum ferritin imbalance corrects itself when the iron elimination is over.
References
1. N Eng J Med, 1999, Hereditary Hemochromatosis in Adults
without Pathogenic Mutations in the Hemochromatosis Gene, Pietrangelo, A. et
al., 341:725, September 2.
2. Neurology,
2003, Parkinson's disease risks associated with dietary iron, manganese, and other
nutrient intakes, Powers, KM et al., Jun 10;60(11):1761-6.
3. Amer J Clin Nut, 1998, 68:3-4 (calcium used to inhibit
iron absorption)
4. Life Extension Foundation, 2000, Disease Prevention and Treatment, Third Ed., pp.317-321.
5. Casdorph, H.R. and Walker, M., Toxic Metal Syndrome, Avery Publishing, 1995.
6. Kutsky, R., Handbook
of Vitamins, Minerals and Hormones, 2nd ed., Van Nostrand
Reinhold, 1982.
7. www.mercola.com/2002/dec/18/iron_diagnosis.htm
8. www.irondisorders.org/Disorders/Acquired.asp
9. J Royal Soc Med.
1988, ÒIron added to flour: Is it nutritionally beneficial? Discussion
paperÓ, M J Hall, May; 81(5):
280–283.
10. http://ironoverloadtreatment.com/ (the new instrument to measure iron
overload)
11. www.irondisorders.org/News
12. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070830122255.htm
13. www.mayoclinic.com/health/hemochromatosis/DS00455/DSECTION=7
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