http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/iron-dangers.shtml
This article has some valuable information, but many of the claims about iron are based on supplements:
"In the 1960s the World Health Organization found that when iron supplements were given to anemic people in Africa, there was a great increase in the death rate from infectious diseases, especially malaria."
"In one of Hans Selye's pioneering studies, he found that he could experimentally produce a form of scleroderma (hardening of the skin) in animals by administering large doses of iron, followed by a minor stress."
"Some researchers are concerned that the iron added to cereals is contributing to the incidence of leukemia and cancers of the lymphatic tissues in children."
"Since the custom of giving large iron supplements to pregnant women has been established, there has been an increase in jaundice of the newborn. It has been observed that women who didn't take iron supplements during pregnancy have healthy babies that don't develop jaundice."
This doesn't mean that iron in food is equally toxic. We have to distinguish between iron in supplements and food, or the scientific method is not being followed. Likewise, there may be differences in toxicity between the iron in animal foods and plants.
"Recently, the iron content of food has been identified as the major life-shortening factor, rather than the calories."
[Choi and Yu, Age vol. 17, page 93, 1994.]"
Studies on intermittent fasting with no restriction of calories show that it gives equal or greater benefits to severe calorie restriction (30-40%). Maybe if we gave our bodies time to remove toxins by not eating 16+ hours a day, we'd be immune to this age-related degeneration.
"The real issue is that you can hardly avoid getting iron, even
when you try."
This is not true. It should be noted that pure fats, like tallow and lard, have no iron. Butter and beef suet have very little iron (about 1% of the RDA in a huge 100g portion). Thus, a diet heavily based on fat (such as Dr. Jan Kwasniewski) will cause a lot less oxidative damage than a diet high in animal protein (Atkins, Protein Power). This helps explain a lot, as Jan Kwasnieski's diet is based on lard and pork. Cheese is also very low in iron. 100g has ~1% of the RDA.
"Many doctors think of anemia as necessarily indicating an iron deficiency, but that isn't correct. 100 years ago, it was customary to prescribe arsenic for anemia, and it worked to stimulate the formation of more red blood cells. The fact that arsenic, or iron, or other toxic material stimulates the formation of red blood cells doesn't indicate a "deficiency" of the toxin, but simply indicates that the body responds to a variety of harmful factors by speeding its production of blood cells. Even radiation can have this kind of stimulating effect, because growth is a natural reaction to injury."
"Between 1920 and 1950, it was common to think of "nutritional growth factors" as being the same as vitamins, but since then it has become common to use known toxins to stimulate the growth of farm animals, and as a result, it has been more difficult to define the essential nutrients. The optimal nutritional intake is now more often considered in terms of resistance to disease, longevity or rate of aging, and even mental ability."
"An excess of iron, by destroying vitamin E and oxidizing the unsaturated fats in red blood cells, can contribute to hemolytic anemia, in which red cells are so fragile that they break down too fast. In aging, red cells break down faster, and are usually produced more slowly, increasing the tendency to become anemic, but additional iron tends to be more dangerous for older people."
This is important, esp the last paragraph. We can reduce iron damage by limiting unsaturated fats (esp PUFAs), and also by eating larger amounts of pure fats and oils.
"Q: Why is there iron in most multi-vitamin and mineral
products?
"Although several researchers have demonstrated that iron destroys vitamins, there is enough wishful thinking in industry, government, and the consuming public, that such mistakes can go on for generations before anyone can mobilize the resources to bring the truth to the public."
Similar to the lies that we need "essential" fat for our health, which have persisted for almost 80 years in spite of existing and increasing proof that PUFAs are toxic.
"Decreasing your consumption of unsaturated fats makes the iron less harmful."
Eating large amounts of fat (even butter and beef suet which are not 100% fat) would reduce iron to very negligible levels. White flour (enriched or otherwise) is not healthy, nor are any other refined carbohydrates.
Many claims being made here, like the existence of iron in lard, need to be revised. There is no lard in any pure fat or oil, and there is very little in things like suet or butter or dairy products (esp cheese). I think there is some fear-mongering about iron, that is not based on credible evidence.
We may find that supplemental iron is the problem, not iron existing in foods. Or maybe animal foods are safe and plant foods (like raisins and prunes) are toxic. Regardless of any of this, we can eat lots of animal fat and not be eating a lot of iron (or PUFAs), if we focus on fat and don't eat an excess of protein (maybe 1g per kg for sedentary people, 2g per kg for highly active people, athletes, and laborers).
Bruce |
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