7 replies to this topic

[misterE]

When it comes to our number one killer: atherosclerosis and cardiovascular-disease, science has known that men tend to suffer more than women. And this is true until a woman reaches menopause, when her risks of heart-attack increase to match that of men. Scientist hypothesize that iron may play a role. Before menopause a women menstruates every month and loses quite a bit of iron each year, which adds up quick over the years. Men do not have this ability.

 

Iron tends to oxidize and create oxidative-stress and iron can also accumulate in organs and contribute to organ disorders. In fact, in many patients with diabetes, they find high levels of intracellular-iron accumulated in the pancreas, which damages the insulin producing beta-cells which leads to diabetes. The oxidation of iron contributes to LDL-oxidation and promotes atherosclerosis. And iron-accumulation in the brain promotes the onset of mental-dysfunctions.

 

So where is all this iron coming from?

 

First know that there are two types of iron; heme-iron and non-heme-iron. Heme-iron is “activated” iron and the body absorbs it without discretion. Whereas with non-heme-iron the body has a highly controlled and regulated absorbtion process; if your body is sufficient in iron, absorption is low and vice-versa.  So a constant supply of heme-iron over the years can rapidly accumulate, regardless of sufficiency.

 

Heme-iron is only found in animal-food, like meat, seafood and eggs. In fact many researchers now believe the reason red-meat has been linked to heart-disease is not due to the saturated-fat content, but by rather the high levels of bioavailable heme-iron! And the best way to control over accumulation of iron is to reduce heme-iron intake. Avoidance of heme-iron is one of the most powerful, yet overlooked aspects into why vegetarians have better metabolic-heath than common omnivores.

 

Another way to lower your iron-accumulation is to donate blood. Studies show that people who donate have better insulin-secretion and insulin-sensitivity and overall much better metabolic-health.

 

 

 

So I am of the conclusion that excessive accumulation of iron contributes to disease and that we can reduce our tissue levels of iron back to an appropriate level by cutting back on consumption of meat, seafood and eggs, favoring more plant-based foods and donating blood every few months.  

 

 

Edited by misterE, 10 April 2018 - 09:09 PM.

[mccoy]

Maybe we should add that ferritine is an indicator of iron accumulation, best to be monitored by those at potential risk (carnivores).

[YOLF]

High garlic intake or garlic pills taken one week a month could offer similar results to men and postmenopausal women. It's a very efficient chelator of iron (I've gotten deficiencies from eating too much of it) and it can also chelate a handful of heavy metals. combine it with one week/month CR (raises FGF), let your calories come entirely from apples (pectin is also good for chelation), and you could be setup for a gentle, regular cyclical metals detox. Good idea!

[misterE]

High garlic intake or garlic pills taken one week a month could offer similar results to men and postmenopausal women. It's a very efficient chelator of iron (I've gotten deficiencies from eating too much of it) and it can also chelate a handful of heavy metals. combine it with one week/month CR (raises FGF), let your calories come entirely from apples (pectin is also good for chelation), and you could be setup for a gentle, regular cyclical metals detox. Good idea!

 

I'm guessing it's garlic's high concentration of sulfur compounds.

Edited by misterE, 01 May 2018 - 08:36 PM.

[Harkijn]

A note of warning to all vegetarians about iron.

In many EU countries (don't know about US) shops carry a variety of meat replacing products: vegaburgers or soy meatballs, steaks etc. They taste good, are easy to prepare and help in convincing young kids to eat their dinner.

However: wellmeaning, often idealistic, producers add a small amount of iron to them. You don't notice untill you happen to look at the very small print underneath the bottom of the package. Forv some  this presents no problem  but we may ingest more iron than we think....

[John250]

Low iron/ferritin is extremely dangerous and is linked to Mitochondrial disease. High iron can shorten telomeres. It is important to get ferritin and TIBC tested with iron serum as iron serum is just a vague indicator. Phlebotomies can be beneficial but they will tank ferritin if done too often. Most banks allow every 56 days but that is not enough time to replenish lost ferritin for most people. A phlebotomy 1-2x/year is plenty.

Edited by John250, 08 June 2018 - 03:51 PM.

[mccoy]

Pancreas seems to be particularly vulnerable to excessive iron concentration. Pancreatic cancer exhibits one of the highest mortalities

Are meat and heme iron intake associated with pancreatic cancer? Results from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Cohort

 

 

 

In conclusion, we observed that higher consumption of total, red, high-temperature cooked, grilled/barbequed, and well/very well done meats and heme iron from red meat was significantly associated with increased pancreatic cancer risk. Further research is required to confirm our study findings and possibly evaluate biomarkers of iron status in relation to pancreatic cancer.

 

Also, an association has been observed between heme iron, pancreas and T2D

 

 

Iron Regulation of Pancreatic Beta-Cell Functions and Oxidative Stress.

 

 

 

bstract

Dietary advice is the cornerstone in first-line treatment of metabolic diseases. Nutritional interventions directed at these clinical conditions mainly aim to (a) improve insulin resistance by reducing energy-dense macronutrient intake to obtain weight loss and (b) reduce fluctuations in insulin secretion through avoidance of rapidly absorbable carbohydrates. However, even in the majority of motivated patients selected for clinical trials, massive efforts using this approach have failed to achieve lasting efficacy. Less attention has been given to the role of micronutrients in metabolic diseases. Here, we review the evidence that highlights (a) the importance of iron in pancreatic beta-cell function and dysfunction in diabetes and (b) the integrative pathophysiological effects of tissue iron levels in the interactions among the beta cell, gut microbiome, hypothalamus, innate and adaptive immune systems, and insulin-sensitive tissues. We propose that clinical trials are warranted to clarify the impact of dietary or pharmacological iron reduction on the development of metabolic disorders.

 

Red Meat, Dietary Heme Iron, and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: The Involvement of Advanced Lipoxidation Endproducts1,2

 

 

[fntms]

It was mentioned on this forum that IP6
aka inositol hexaphosphate is a good way to reduce ferritin.
Since I stopped blood donation every 2 months and just relied on ip6 500mg or 1g per day my ferritin level has shot up from 70 to 270 (in about 1.5y), all else equal.

I also read research on pubmed which says ip6 only chelates what is in the stomach and has no effect on cellular levels of ip6 which might chelate iron.

So back to blood donation for me ...
Was considering self phlebotomy but not sure about hitting the vein right with the huge needle.