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I have come across several people who were told they needed to supplement iron, despite consuming a very iron-rich diet. I have also seen studies that attribute certain symptoms to low iron levels. Often, even with iron supplementation (and I would suggest, because of it), the patient "goes downhill" and we are told how important iron is. Of course it is, up to a certain level, but when one is eating a diet that is too high in iron to begin with, something else is wrong - and yet the the myth or anemia persists.
So what is really happening in most of these cases, since the "not enough iron" notion is beyond illogical and borderline ludicrous? When cells are stressed (for any number of reasons), arachionic acid is released (if you are eating a typical American diet), and some of it, along with other polyunsaturates, will react with iron in your body, possibly doing tremendous damage. When your iron levels are measured, they may very well be "low," because the iron is being used up quickly in these reactions. The more iron such a person consumes, the more damage that will likely be done. But because doctors don't usually study molecular-level mechanisms, and the textbook writers are not interested in questioning existing notions considered "established," the low iron/anemia myth continues. |
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QUOTE: It's not hard to recall the pungent scent of a handful of pocket change. Similar smells emanate from a sweat-covered dumbbell or the water emerging from an old metal pipe. Yet no one has been able to identify the exact chemical cause of these familiar odors.
The researchers--Andrea Dietrich, Dietmar Glindemann, Hans-Joachim Staerk and Peter Kuschk, all from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg--published their findings in the Oct. 20, 2006, Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
"We are the first to demonstrate that when humans describe the 'metallic' odor of iron metal, there are no iron atoms in the odors," said Dietrich. "The odors humans perceive as metallic are really a body odor produced by metals reacting with skin."
Because the makeup of byproduct molecules depends on which organic substances are reacting, the researchers believe the findings could help identify problem odors in potable water or aid doctors searching for disease markers in sweat or other body fluids.
The study, which focused mainly on the reactions of biological fluids with iron, also examined the scents emanating from iron in blood.
"We speculate that the 'blood scent' may result from skin reacting with ferrous iron because the same 'metallic' odor is produced if you rub blood on skin," said Dietrich.
One of the chemicals produced in the reaction is 1-octen-3-one, which has a mushroom-metallic smell and very low odor threshold, meaning that humans can smell it in extremely minute concentrations... UNQUOTE.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061121162538.htm
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Hee's a post I wrote up for another forum. Two posters were arguing over a study about high iron levels causing disease:
"In general, healthy adults have hemoglobin levels of 14 grams or more
per deciliter of blood..."
This brings up a major problem with todays biomedical establishment. Just because adult Americans, or Westerners in general, have certain levels does not mean this is optimal. In fact, there may be too much iron, and it is only when there is enough stress, or loss of anti-stress factors, that the iron levels go down, and this is because the iron is being used in dangerous reactions, such as lipid peroxidation. Because most Western diets are so high in iron, this level looks "normal," when in fact it may be setting people up for "chronic disease" within some number of years (often this happens in one's 40s or 50s, when the body does not have the same resistance, due to a number of factors).
I avoid any major source of iron. I eat a few raisins at each meal, but otherwise my diet is quite low in iron, and I don't have anemia. What is most likely happening is described by Spiteller:
Med Hypotheses. 2003 Jan;60(1):69-83.
Are lipid peroxidation processes induced by changes in the cell wall structure and how are these processes connected with diseases?
Spiteller G.
Lehrstuhl Organische Chemie, Universitatsstrasse 30, Bayreuth, Germany. [email protected]
Apparently nature uses the unique sensitivity of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) versus oxygen to generate chemical signals if the surface of a cell is influenced by an outside or inside event; for instance the attack of microorganisms, proliferation, aging or by treatment of isolated cells with surfactants. It seems that mammalian and plant cells respond equally to such changes in their structures by transformation of polyunsaturated fatty acids localized in the phospholipid layer of the cell wall to lipidhydroperoxides (LOOHs). These lipid peroxidation (LPO) processes involve all PUFAs, not only arachidonic acid.Slight physiological changes of the cell wall for instance by proliferation seem to activate enzymes, e.g., phospholipases and lipoxygenases (LOX). When an outside impact (for instance by attack of microorganisms) exceeds a certain level LOX commit suicide and liberate iron ions. These start a nonenzymatic LPO. Enzymatic and nonenzymatic LPO distinguish fundamentally which has not been recognized in the past. In the enzymatic LPO processes peroxyl radicals generated as intermediates cannot leave the enzyme complex. In contrast in a nonenzymatic LPO process peroxyl radicals are not trapped. They attack nearly any kind of biological molecules, for instance proteins. Thus only the amount of an outside impact decides if proliferation, apoptosis, or necrosis is started.Some evidence indicates that cancer might be the consequence of a low response of cells to induce apoptotic LPO processes. In contrast to high level of LPO processes induces diseases combined with inflammation, for instance rheumatic arthritis. After consumption of food rich in linoleic acid its LPO products become increased in low density lipoprotein (LDL). This LDL is able to enter endothelial cells and damage cells from inside, long before an inflammatory response is detectable.
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Hans,,, whats your opion on this,,, That new doctor I went to see, did perscribed me Floridated Iron and Herbs Supplement to see if my blood count will change in anyways for two months. I understand all your arguement on anemia and iron, but do you think it will be safe to do that for 2 months? I guess this could show that my anemia is indeed caused by my body not properly digesting iron. Remember, also, I don't and never really had typical american diet. My evil came from my lack of control in eating junk food. Thanks |
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In general, "junk food" is high in iron. And many peoples' diets these days are not much better than "junk food" anyway. Personally, I would avoid this "Floridated Iron and Herbs" supplement, unless you know for sure that it is exactly what you need. I am concerned that many "alternative health experts" give people things that they don't need so that the patient thinks that he/she is truly and expert and keeps coming back. Knowing what I know now, I would try to get healthy by avoiding stressors, and an iron supplement can indeed be a stressor. They told me I was low in B12, and I would guess that you are more likely low in one or more B vitamins that in iron. If you want iron, eat a dozen raisins with each meal, which is safer than meat or supplements. Above all, do not take a little advice from one person and a little from another and mix them together, then blame them both when it fails. Be consistent with one line of advice and see what happens. Give it at least several weeks. About 2-3 months seems best. |
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Free Radic Res. 2007 Mar;41(3):324-8. "Body iron is a contributor to oxidative damage of DNA." Tuomainen TP, Lo et al. The transition metal iron is catalytically highly active in vitro, and
not surprisingly, body iron has been suggested to promote oxidative
stress in vivo. In the current analysis we studied the association of
serum ferritin concentration and serum soluble transferrin receptor
concentration with daily urinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine excretion, a
marker of oxidative stress, in 48 mildly dyslipidemic men in East
Finland. In multivariate linear regression analyses allowing for age,
smoking, body mass index and physical exercise, serum ferritin
concentration predicted the excretion rate at B = 0.17 (95% CI
0.08-0.26, P = 0.001), and serum soluble transferrin receptor to
ferritin concentration ratio (TfR/ferritin) predicted the excretion
rate at B = - 0.13 (95% CI - 0.21 to - 0.05, P = 0.002). Our data
suggest that body iron contributes to excess oxidative stress already
at non-iron overload concentrations in these subjects. |
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QUOTE: Duke University chemists are developing ways to bind up iron in the brain to combat the neurological devastation of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. The key is to weed out potentially destructive forms of iron that generate harmful free radicals while leaving benign forms of iron alone to carry out vital functions in the body.
"Using existing chelating (metal-binding) molecules to target iron in the brain can be tricky," said Katherine Franz, an assistant chemistry professor at Duke, because iron is essential to the body. "We want to go after only the iron that is causing the damage. We don't want to pull the iron out of healthy sites..."
"That work looks promising," Franz said. "It looks like we're seeing iron binding only when we increase the levels of hydrogen peroxide. This level of peroxide normally kills cells, but we are seeing cell survival with the pro-chelators, so we're very excited." UNQUOTE.
Sounds wonderful, but this is what the "scientific establishment" is especial good at these days, that is, of talking about how the work they've done might soon lead to cures for all kinds of terrible "diseases." Yet the diseases only seem to get worse, or stay about the same, don't they? I understand that there is a "funding game" going on, but when do those in charge of the purse strings finally demand results within a given period of time? How many news stories have you heard over the last decade or so about "great discoveries" that might soon lead to "cures?" It's almost like a new kind of religion.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070823083702.htm |
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A new report that supports my points about iron:
QUOTE: The anemia of chronic disease may be a beneficial, adaptive response to the underlying disease, rather than a negative effect of the illness, postulates an analysis article in CMAJ.
The authors argue that anemia may be beneficial to patients with inflammatory disease, and advocate restraint in treating mild to moderate forms of anemia.
"The general assumption is that anemia is a disorder and that patients would be better off without it," state the authors.
However, they suggest that anemia of chronic disease has the characteristics of an adaptive physiologic response, and their review of the literature shows that mortality appears to increase when treatment, given to raise hemoglobin levels, overrides mild to moderate anemia of chronic disease... UNQUOTE.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080811195309.htm |
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