Everytime I read something I find out something else I shouldn't be doing!
Now I read (PPLP) that iron could be bad for me and make me hypothyroid (just what I need) amongst other things.
There's no way you can get a ferritin test here just by asking for one.
My mum has always been slightly anaemic and all my life I've had in my head that I need to make sure I take enough iron.
When I go to give blood, sometimes they don't let me because my blood isn't 'heavy' enough, ie not enough iron.
At the moment (regularly since starting LC and intermittently before) I take a multivitamin and mineral with 14mg of iron. I thought I was doing myself good and avoiding anaemia, but I might be making myself ill.
So - I am supposed to take iron or not - I don't know how to find out. Any views?
Thanks, Jay

Jay, when I first read in PPLifeplan about the "dangers" of stored iron, I immediately threw out my multivites with iron, and got an iron-free supplement. Since then, I've been diagnosed with very low iron stores, and now must take an extra iron supplement.

The caution against too high iron stores is directed mostly at men and post-menopausal women. Younger women who are still menstruating generally do not need to worry, as the monthly blood losses help to keep things in balance. In fact, there's a large % of young, pre-menopausal women walking around with iron DEFICIENCY because for years and years, we've been eating lowfat diets that are low in red meats, egg yolks and other sources of easily absorbed iron. As well, if you have a history of heavy periods, this can also deplete the iron stores.

Too low iron is just as bad as too high .. in one of the studies showing the link between too high iron levels and heart attack death (in men and women over age 67) ... there was also found to be significant risk with levels that were too low. I'll post an article from Health Scout News about the iron controversy.

Don't guess. Yes, a serum ferritin is an expenisve blood test. But, if you tell your doctor what you've told here, past history and concerns with donating blood, and any other symptoms you might have, then the test is warranted.

Good luck to you.

Doreen

Do You Have Too Much Iron?

February 22, 2001

THURSDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthScout) -- You might be in your Geritol years, but do you really need to take extra iron?

Chances are, the answer's no. In fact, new research finds more elderly Americans have too much iron in their blood instead of not enough -- the opposite of what's found in most of the rest of the world where iron deficiency is common.

But what too much iron in the blood means is far from clear.

"There is a raging controversy at the moment about whether high iron stores are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, colon cancer and diabetes. Some studies have shown an association, but others have not. It's something we need more information about," says Dr. Richard Wood, a Tufts University nutrition expert and co-author of the latest study, which appears in this month's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Wood and his colleagues analyzed blood iron levels in more than 1,000 men and women, aged 67 to 96, who are in the Framingham Heart study, a landmark, long-term look at various health issues.

Three percent of the subjects had abnormally low iron levels, as measured by circulating ferritin (an iron-rich protein), hemoglobin and other gauges. But nearly 13 percent had too much of the mineral -- more than 300 micrograms per liter of blood for men, and more than 200 micrograms per liter for women.

Because chronic diseases, especially inflammatory ailments like arthritis, are known to lower a person's iron levels, Wood's group focused on 182 people with these conditions. They found that though their symptoms mimicked anemia, their conditions weren't caused by too little iron intake. Among the 182 people, the risk of too much iron in the blood was 1.5 times higher than for study as a whole. And the risk of anemia was 2.6 times greater than average, though most was attributable not to low iron intake, but to poor production of the red blood cells which carry the mineral.

An estimated one in 300 people in this country have a genetic disorder called hemochromatosis in which the body builds up too much iron. The disease is linked to a wide range of serious health problems, including diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, arthritis, heart failure and liver cancer.

Another one in 10 Americans carry a single copy of the mutant iron gene, which causes them to hoard iron. "What the health effects of that condition are is unclear," Wood says.

Dr. Jerome L. Sullivan, an iron expert at the University of Florida, proposed in the early 1980s that getting rid of stored iron protected the heart and might help explain why heart attacks are so rare among menstruating women.

Sullivan says the latest findings likely won't surprise many researchers who've come to believe that too much iron is a more serious problem in the United States than iron deficiency. Elsewhere in the world, the opposite is clearly the case.

"This is a view that is held by a number of people already," says Sullivan. While problems result from either extreme, he says no one knows what level of stored iron is harmful.

"Really rather low levels of stored iron may promote heart disease both in the elderly" and younger people, he says.

What To Do

The National Academy of Sciences recently announced new vitamin and mineral intake guidelines, which recommend that men and post-menopausal women get at least 8 milligrams a day of iron. Younger women should get at least 18 milligrams per day.

The latest work doesn't challenge that recommendation, at least not yet, Wood says. "There have been some studies which have suggested that excess iron is related to chronic diseases. If it were true, it would be of concern, but I'm not sure that everyone agrees," he says.

"General advice on iron levels is probably always misplaced," says Sullivan.

"Iron levels should be apprised on an individual basis. People would be best advised to find out what their iron level is rather than stopping iron supplements or starting to take them," he says. Your doctor should be able to order the test.

To learn more about hemochromatosis, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For more on iron deficiency, try the University of Maryland Medicine.

http://kprc-tvhealth.ip2m.com/index...9&Site_Cat_ID=9

Thanks Doreen, that's a great help.
I think I probably do need iron, because I have heavy periods, my blood is sometimes too light in iron to donate and we don't eat red meat that often (too expensive and D not that keen on it).
I won't throw away my multivits with iron but next time I'm at the doctor's I'll ask them about the ferritin test (usual response of doctors seems to be 'go away and stop worrying your head about things') but I can still try.
You've helped me decide what to do and stop worrying - Thanks, I really appreciate it.
Jay