This Mineral Is Essential

By Dr. Mercola

One in 3 reading this likely has a serious overload of a mineral that may be more dangerous to your health than lack of vitamin D. That mineral is iron.

Making matters worse, few physicians fully appreciate the danger of excess iron, which Gerry Koenig, former chairman of the Iron Disorders Institute (IDI) and the Hemochromatosis Foundation, discusses in this interview. Koenig’s personal story is a powerful illustration of what can happen to someone with excess iron.

Approaching his 50th birthday, he’d lost a lot of weight, worked out, and felt healthy. By age 55, he was in good shape, but he did drink more than recommended. Eventually, during a physical exam, he found out his liver enzymes were high.Lower your net carb intake and increase your consumption of healthy fats, including animal-based omega-3, to switch over to the fat-burning mode and protect your mitochondria. This will help to radically reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and secondary free radical production.

Relying on antioxidants to indiscriminately suppress ROS can backfire as ROS also act as important signaling molecules. They’re not all bad. They cause harm only when produced in excess. You’re better off lowering the production of them rather than squelching them after they’re produced.

So optimize your ROS levels biologically rather than relying on vitamins and supplements. Eating healthy fats can make a bigger difference than you might think, especially if you have high iron. Koenig explains:

“There was a very interesting group of studies on captive U.S. Navy dolphins. The dolphins had metabolic syndrome. Very, very high ferritin (serum iron). They were unhealthy. Metabolic syndrome in any population is a sign of potential risk of going from diabetes to heart disease. They cured it by providing them good fish to have plenty of fats, where they had been getting fish with poor fats …

If anybody remembers the film ‘Lorenzo’s Oil,’ that’s where children have brain damage as a result of having this metabolism that doesn’t create a good mixture of fatty acids in the cell linings. If the cell linings are damaged, particularly if it happens in the brain … you’re going to get hurt

… If you have leakage of iron from subcells, end cells, and red blood cells (hemolysis) … it will shoot the ferritin level up high as an indication of risk. That’s when action should be taken. But it’s hard to find specialists. We need a couple of thousand general practitioners who know about this.”

Be Mindful of Food Combos That Promote Iron Retention

Here are a few other tips and suggestions regarding diet. Eating vitamin C-rich food with a meal that has an iron will increase iron absorption. If you’re anemic, this might be a good thing, but if you struggle with high iron, avoid combining foods high in vitamin C and iron. On the other hand, calcium will bind to iron, limiting absorption.

It impairs iron, so to speak, so if your iron is high, consider eating iron-rich foods with foods high in calcium. Interestingly, curcumin (derived from turmeric) acts as a potent chelator of iron and can be a useful supplement if your iron is elevated.

“For most people that works well. Your body is designed to not over-absorb non-heme iron, which is elemental iron. That’s the iron inside vegetables and fruits. If you do something to enhance that absorption, the body will take it in.

The iron from meats you can’t control very well. We’re the only country in the world, together with Canada, to put 44 parts per million of elemental iron in our grains and flours. The other one is the U.K. They put 16.5 parts per million. That’s a lot of iron, and [many] don’t need it,” Koenig says.

More Information

To learn more, I recommend visiting HealtheIron.com, where you can also order your serum ferritin and GGT tests. If either of those is elevated, you need to take action. The treatment couldn’t be simpler. Unless you’re a menstruating woman, simply donate blood two to three times a year.

If you cannot donate blood due to restrictions for hemochromatosis, get your doctor to write you a prescription for therapeutic phlebotomy. Every blood bank can do that for you, and many will do it free of charge, so shop around. Otherwise, a typical charge ranges from $30 to $90, which is still fairly inexpensive considering the health benefits.

There’s also a really informative book called “Dumping Iron: How to Ditch This Secret Killer and Reclaim Your Health,” which is a well-written and easy to understand resource. Remember, high iron may not only be as common, or more, than low iron, it’s also more dangerous, and may actually be a factor in a significant number of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer cases.

Unfortunately, nearly every physician is still clueless about this, and so you need to be your own advocate if you suspect (or know) your iron is too high.

I believe correcting elevated iron levels may be just as important, if not more so, than optimizing your vitamin D. If you have high iron, you definitely have the pedal to the metal when it comes to speeding up disease and aging. Koenig is a perfect example. He ended up needing a liver transplant as a result of iron overload. In conclusion, Koenig notes:

“If your doctor tells you that you have fatty liver disease, you probably have high iron, high ferritin. He probably will not test you for that. Get the test. You can see some benefit by donating blood, or changing your diet. On my website, I have about 700 publications. If you want to dig into it, it’s a section. Find out how to reduce [your iron] by diet alone. It’s been done and done successfully.”

Sources and References

• ^1, 2 Irondisorgers.org, Four Important Tests Where Ranges for Normal Vary (PDF)
• ³ NHANES I (1971-1974
• ⁴ NHANES II (1976-1980)

The post This Mineral Is Essential appeared first on LewRockwell.