In Affiliation with: Dartmouth Medical School | Dartmouth-Hitchcock
Medical Center | The National Cancer Institute

Managing Iron Nutrition, a guide for patients

The amount of iron present in the body in excess of physiologic
requirement increases with aging because iron intake in the diet
exceeds requirements for replacement of iron lost and because iron is
conserved efficiently.
--------------------------

We downregulate the absorption of wheat / plant iron but NOT ..meat /
heme iron.

http://tinyurl.com/b8nap

We found that healthy individuals absorbed about 16x more iron from the

hamburger meal than the wheat muffin meal

Also, we concluded that heme iron is more bioavailable than nonheme
iron at least partially because of its much higher initial uptake by
the intestinal cell and that the initial uptake into the intestinal
cell is an important step in the regulation of iron absorption.

http://tinyurl.com/akgo7

Healthy individuals adapted to decrease their efficiency of nonheme,
but not heme,

http://www.cancer.dartmouth.edu/iron/index.shtml

In Affiliation with: Dartmouth Medical School | Dartmouth-Hitchcock
Medical Center | The National Cancer Institute

 An NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center

 The Iron Surveillance Program

 The Iron Surveillance Program

Program Summary
For More Information
Contact:
Dr. Leo Zacharski, M.D.

Managing Iron Nutrition, a guide for patients

The amount of iron present in the body in excess of physiologic
requirement increases with aging because iron intake in the diet
exceeds requirements for replacement of iron lost and because iron is
conserved efficiently. Only traces of iron are lost by shedding of
cells from the intestinal tract and skin, although larger amounts are
lost with bleeding (such as with menstruation), and during normal
pregnancy. Biochemical, animal, and human data have linked rising
levels of iron in the body to increased risk of a variety of diseases
including vascular disease, cancer and certain neurological diseases.
Iron exerts its detrimental effects by provoking increased oxidative
stress that is due, in chemical terms, to oxygen free radical
formation. Oxygen free radicals produced in excess are capable of
damaging many important molecules including DNA and lipids. Such damage
appears to result from an exaggeration of the normal function of iron,
which is to transport oxygen to tissues. Humans are at particular risk
because no physiologic regulatory mechanism exists to maintain body
iron levels at a theoretical optimum. The amount of iron carried in the
body comes almost entirely from excessive dietary intake. (An exception
is that iron may accumulate in the lungs from long-term inhalation of
iron - containing particles in smoke.) Because almost everyone consumes
more iron than needed over long periods of time, iron accumulation
occurs in most people and may predispose to common diseases of aging.
Iron - induced free radical damage to lipids seems to be most important
for development of vascular disease (heart attack and stroke). Damage
to DNA appears to be important for development of cancer and cancer
cells are known grow rapidly in response to iron in their environment.
Correspondingly, premenopausal women and children are believed to have
a low risk of common diseases because amounts of iron in the body are
unlikely to be excessive at these times.

The amount of iron in storage in the body can be measured by a simple
laboratory blood test called the serum ferritin determination. Iron
stores represented by the serum ferritin level are relatively low in
children and in women prior to menopause. Ferritin levels rise in males
in the late teens at the end of the adolescent growth spurt and in
women with cessation of menstruation - in concert with increasing
disease risk. This correlates with the observation that disease rates
(e.g. of cancer and vascular disease) rise earlier in men than women.
Clinical scientists have attempted to reduce the manifestations and
risk of disease by deliberately lowering the amount of iron in the body
to levels believed to carry reduced risk while avoiding iron
deficiency. (See article in Vascular Medicine included on this web
site). Iron reduction may be achieved by reducing the amount of iron in
the diet, administering drugs that bind iron and cause it to be
eliminated in the urine, and by phlebotomy (removal of blood) that
draws iron out of storage to replenish iron needed for formation of new
red blood cells. All of these approaches have been shown to ameliorate
the course of certain diseases. More information for patients and
physicians on interpretation of serum ferritin levels is provided in
the section entitled "Managing Iron Nutrition" on this web site.

Researchers at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center have been concerned
about the possible detrimental effects of iron for a number of years.
Leo R. Zacharski, MD, Professor of Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School
and member of the staff of the Section of Hematology and Oncology and
the Norris Cotton Cancer Center; is the chairman of a large randomized
clinical trial in which effects of lowering iron stores by phlebotomy
on disease risk are being studied. This study, which is sponsored by
the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Research Service, began in
1999 and is scheduled for completion in April 2005. The results of this
and other studies should help to define the role of iron excess in
diseases of aging. The results, if favorable, may provide a basis for
development of safe and low - cost methods of disease prevention and
treatment.

The Iron Surveillance Program Home

Publications
Consent Form for Phlebotomy Study.

Association of age, sex, and race with body iron stores in adults:
Analysis of NHANES III data. Leo R. Zacharski, MD, Deborah L. Ornstein,
MD, Steven Woloshin, MD, and Lisa M. Schwartz, MD

The Iron (Fe) and Atherosclerosis Study (FeAST): A Pilot Study of
Reduction of Body Iron Stores in Atherosclerotic Peripheral Vascular
Disease. Reprinted from American Heart Journal

BENCH TO BEDSIDE: The Toxicity of Excess Dietary Iron. Reprinted from
Dartmouth Medicine

Atherosclerosis: a manifestation of chronic iron toxicity?

Managing Iron Nutrition

Zacharski LR, Chow, BK, Howes PS, Shamayeva G, Lavori PW.
Implementation of an iron reduction protocol in patients with
peripheral vascular disease: VA Cooperative Study #410: The Iron and
Atherosclerosis Study. Am Heart J 2004;148:386-92.
 The Iron Surveillance Program Home

Publications
Consent Form for Phlebotomy Study.
Association of age, sex, and race with body iron stores in adults:
Analysis of NHANES III data. Leo R. Zacharski, MD, Deborah L. Ornstein,
MD, Steven Woloshin, MD, and Lisa M. Schwartz, MD
The Iron (Fe) and Atherosclerosis Study (FeAST): A Pilot Study of
Reduction of Body Iron Stores in Atherosclerotic Peripheral Vascular
Disease. Reprinted from American Heart Journal
BENCH TO BEDSIDE: The Toxicity of Excess Dietary Iron. Reprinted from
Dartmouth Medicine
Atherosclerosis: a manifestation of chronic iron toxicity?
Managing Iron Nutrition
Zacharski LR, Chow, BK, Howes PS, Shamayeva G, Lavori PW.
Implementation of an iron reduction protocol in patients with
peripheral vascular disease: VA Cooperative Study #410: The Iron and
Atherosclerosis Study. Am Heart J 2004;148:386-92.

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Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com

Man Is A Herbivore!
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/manisaherbivore

DEAD PEOPLE WALKING
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/deadpeoplewalking