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IRON AS A RISK FACTOR FOR ATHEROSCLEROSIS, HEART DISEASE, IN WOMEN
CVD risk factors are positively associated with iron stores in women (see all endnotes)
HEART DISEASE IS THE NUMBER ONE KILLER OF WOMEN NOW. Cardiovascular disease claims more women's lives than the next six causes of death combined  about 500,000 women's lives a year.
There is now a lot of evidence that there is a possibility that iron depletion has a large protective effect, large enough to explain the low incidence of myocardial infarction in menstruating women.
8,000,000 American women are currently living with heart disease - 10% of women ages 45 - 64 and 25% age 65 and over.
A little talked about health problem has come to my attention lately, and that is, women who don’t menstruate anymore, have a tendency to have higher levels of iron in their blood than pre-menopausal women. And, the link has been made, with more certainty than ever, that heart disease is linked to increases of iron in the body.
HEART DISEASE IS THE NUMBER ONE KILLER OF WOMEN NOW.
Iron is potentially toxic because it serves as a catalyst in oxidation-reduction reactions. Also, because the human body has a limited capacity to excrete iron, it can build up in the body. Too much iron in the body, a condition called iron overload, can cause serious problems, including liver damage. There is evidence that too much iron increases the risk of colon cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses. One study of people over age 60 found that for each 50-mg monthly increase over a 250 mg daily iron intake (from both food and supplements), the likelihood of developing heart disease rose 1-1/2 times in men and 3-1/2 times in women.
If left untreated, excess iron accumulates in vital organs, particularly the liver, pancreas and heart. All of these organs can become irreversibly damaged, and cirrhosis, diabetes and heart failure can result."
If a non-menstruating woman eats, say, a bowl of Quaker instant grits for breakfast, that one packet has 45% of the RDA for IRON in ONE serving! Add a couple of slices of fortified toast, which might have 8% RDA of iron in 1 o2 2 slices, and she already has had 53% of an RDA of iron which she doesn’t need, and which might become toxic to her.
Lunch? Let’s see….a soy burger 10% iron, ½ cup of peas, 15%, maybe a small spinach salad on the side, another 15%, and a candy bar, for dessert, another 8% of iron, she has ingested 48 % of the RDA of iron for people who NEED iron, thus, building up more iron
in her body, than she needs. Non-menstruating women DON’T NEED this much iron!!!
Dinner? Maybe she has 4 ounces of beef, which gives her another 8-10 percent of iron, and some baked beans, another 10 percent, and some whole wheat bread, another 8 percent.
26 % of iron in that meal.
So, her total, UNNECESSARY IRON INTAKE FOR THE ONE DAY IS ABOUT
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN OF THE 100 PERCENT!
OVERLOAD! HEART DISEASE? THERE’S NOW A LINK! THINK ABOUT IT,
WOMEN!
..the hypothesis has been raised that the iron depletion associated with menstruation also protects against heart disease."
For instance, men who regularly donate blood have a lower risk of heart disease, and pre-menopausal women, who regularly lose blood, and thus iron, through menstruation, also have a lower risk of heart disease.
"Many scientists attribute the significantly low risk of cardiovascular disease among pre-menopausal women to the protective effects of estrogen," Matsuoka said.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women and kills 32% of them.
Symptoms of iron toxicity include the following:
Fatigue
Anorexia
Dizziness
Nausea
Vomiting
Headache
Weight loss
Shortness of breath
A grayish color to the skin is a possible indication of iron toxicity.
Hemochromatosis is a genetic disorder that affects the regulation of iron absorption. The incidence may be as high as 5 in 1,000 in Caucasians. Treatment consists of a low-iron diet, no iron supplements, and phlebotomy (blood removal) on a regular basis.
Excess storage of iron in the body is known as hemosiderosis. The increased iron stores come from the consumption of excessive iron supplements or from receiving frequent blood transfusions, not from increased iron intake in the diet.
Normally, when the body has enough iron, the cells stop absorbing it from food and if there is too little iron, they absorb more. If this system breaks down, a person can absorb too much iron from the diet, leading to hemochromatosis (iron overload).
Until now, most researchers have thought that the problem stems from a faulty intestinal signal that there is too little iron, leading cells in the intestines to produce more transport proteins that draw iron inside.
However, the current study shows that the link between Hfe and iron is probably in the liver, rather than the intestine.
A SECONDARY TYPE OF IRON OVERLOAD (called HEMOSIDEROSIS) occurs in people who take large amounts of iron supplements, or in people who must have repeated blood transfusions, or who have certain other diseases. However, the body usually returns to normal processing of iron when the excess intake is eliminated.
The disease can develop at any age, but symptoms usually do not occur until middle age (between the ages of 40 and 60). Women often develop the symptoms AT A LATER AGE than men, probably because women lose significant amounts of iron through menstruation and pregnancy. The damage to the liver and other organs comes from LONG-TERM STORAGE OF EXCESSIVE IRON.
When the liver is badly damaged, scarring or hardening develops. This is called cirrhosis. Damage to the liver may also cause jaundice (yellow color to skin and eyes). Excess iron deposited in the pancreas causes it to stop making insulin, and diabetes mellitus develops. Hemochromatosis can also cause enlargement of and damage to the heart. Too much iron can be harmful to the pituitary gland (in the brain), and this may result in a number of hormone problems. Another common problem is the development of arthritis.
Further deepening a decade-old medical controversy, Finnish researchers have linked the amount of iron in the body in men to heart attacks.
In the latest study, Salonen and his team looked at 99 men who had suffered a heart attack during the last three to almost nine years, and 98 men who were healthy and who served as a "control group" for the study. The "control" group was among the 1,931 male participants in the on-going Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study who had no history of coronary heart disease, which causes heart attacks.
The men with the lowest ratio of transferrin receptors to ferritin had the most iron in their body and the most risk of heart attack.
Think about this, if a woman who doesn’t regularly lose blood still continues to eat
foods fortified with large amounts of iron, the possibility for iron toxicity, and thus, heart attacks, increases with each passing month.
There are two types of iron found in foods: heme and non-heme. Your body absorbs heme iron more easily than non-heme iron. However, foods containing non-heme iron are also very important sources of iron in your diet. (both forms of iron are in almost ALL foods, now!!)
If a non-menstruating woman eats, say, a bowl of Quaker instant grits for breakfast, that one packet has 45% of the RDA for IRON in ONE serving! Add a couple of slices of fortified toast, which might have 8% RDA of iron in 1 o2 2 slices, and she already has had 53% of an RDA of iron which she doesn’t need, and which might become toxic to her.
Lunch? Let’s see….a soy burger 10% iron, ½ cup of peas, 15%, maybe a small spinach salad on the side, another 15%, and a candy bar, for dessert, another 8% of iron, she has ingested 48 % of the RDA of iron for people who NEED iron, thus, building up more iron
in her body, than she needs. Non-menstruating women DON’T NEED this much iron!!!
Dinner? Maybe she has 4 ounces of beef, which gives her another 8-10 percent of iron, and some baked beans, another 10 percent, and some whole wheat bread, another 8 percent.
26 % of iron in that meal.
So, her total, UNNECESSARY IRON INTAKE FOR THE ONE DAY IS ABOUT
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN OF THE 100 PERCENT!
OVERLOAD! HEART DISEASE? THERE’S NOW A LINK! THINK ABOUT IT,
WOMEN!
What if she eats Total, or other cereals that give 100% of the RDA of iron and then eats
just about any other food available, she’s only adding to her chances of causing heart disease, diabetes, liver disease, and damage to other vital organs.
No one talks about this, and women are dying left and right from heart disease.
There is a link between high iron levels and heart disease.
A way to reduce iron levels is to donate blood regularly. Another way is to read
labels on foods and drinks, and adjust your intake accordingly. A third way to reduce iron absorption is to drink regular tea, pekoe tea, and to take magnesium every day.
Women need to learn more about heart disease, since it’s the NUMBER ONE KILLER of WOMEN. Yes, there are other reasons for heart disease, but, even the atherosclerosis has been recently linked to higher levels of iron in the blood!
Normal hematocrit levels FOR WOMEN are: 35 to 48 (endnotes)
Normal hemoglobin levels for women are: 12-18 (endnotes)
You can get your hematocrit levels tested free.
ENDNOTES
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/iron.asp
http://www.shands.org/health/informatio ... 002422.htm
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content ... 00/12/1260
http://www.gmhc.org/health/treatment/fa ... nemia.html
http://www.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/133/11/3598
http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/n ... n/iron.php
http://www.bchealthguide.org/healthfiles/hfile68d.stm
http://www.healthcastle.com/iron.shtml
http://scc.uchicago.edu/iron.htm
http://www.mercola.com/2003/jun/4/iron_absorption.htm
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/s ... VM,00.html
http://www.uihealthcare.com/news/news/2 ... tosis.html
http://www.womenheart.org/
http://www.scienceblog.com/community/ol ... 00086.html
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter. ... ifier=3053
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/10/ ... iron.reut/
CVD risk factors are positively associated with iron stores in women (see all endnotes)
HEART DISEASE IS THE NUMBER ONE KILLER OF WOMEN NOW. Cardiovascular disease claims more women's lives than the next six causes of death combined  about 500,000 women's lives a year.
There is now a lot of evidence that there is a possibility that iron depletion has a large protective effect, large enough to explain the low incidence of myocardial infarction in menstruating women.
8,000,000 American women are currently living with heart disease - 10% of women ages 45 - 64 and 25% age 65 and over.
A little talked about health problem has come to my attention lately, and that is, women who don’t menstruate anymore, have a tendency to have higher levels of iron in their blood than pre-menopausal women. And, the link has been made, with more certainty than ever, that heart disease is linked to increases of iron in the body.
HEART DISEASE IS THE NUMBER ONE KILLER OF WOMEN NOW.
Iron is potentially toxic because it serves as a catalyst in oxidation-reduction reactions. Also, because the human body has a limited capacity to excrete iron, it can build up in the body. Too much iron in the body, a condition called iron overload, can cause serious problems, including liver damage. There is evidence that too much iron increases the risk of colon cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses. One study of people over age 60 found that for each 50-mg monthly increase over a 250 mg daily iron intake (from both food and supplements), the likelihood of developing heart disease rose 1-1/2 times in men and 3-1/2 times in women.
If left untreated, excess iron accumulates in vital organs, particularly the liver, pancreas and heart. All of these organs can become irreversibly damaged, and cirrhosis, diabetes and heart failure can result."
If a non-menstruating woman eats, say, a bowl of Quaker instant grits for breakfast, that one packet has 45% of the RDA for IRON in ONE serving! Add a couple of slices of fortified toast, which might have 8% RDA of iron in 1 o2 2 slices, and she already has had 53% of an RDA of iron which she doesn’t need, and which might become toxic to her.
Lunch? Let’s see….a soy burger 10% iron, ½ cup of peas, 15%, maybe a small spinach salad on the side, another 15%, and a candy bar, for dessert, another 8% of iron, she has ingested 48 % of the RDA of iron for people who NEED iron, thus, building up more iron
in her body, than she needs. Non-menstruating women DON’T NEED this much iron!!!
Dinner? Maybe she has 4 ounces of beef, which gives her another 8-10 percent of iron, and some baked beans, another 10 percent, and some whole wheat bread, another 8 percent.
26 % of iron in that meal.
So, her total, UNNECESSARY IRON INTAKE FOR THE ONE DAY IS ABOUT
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN OF THE 100 PERCENT!
OVERLOAD! HEART DISEASE? THERE’S NOW A LINK! THINK ABOUT IT,
WOMEN!
..the hypothesis has been raised that the iron depletion associated with menstruation also protects against heart disease."
For instance, men who regularly donate blood have a lower risk of heart disease, and pre-menopausal women, who regularly lose blood, and thus iron, through menstruation, also have a lower risk of heart disease.
"Many scientists attribute the significantly low risk of cardiovascular disease among pre-menopausal women to the protective effects of estrogen," Matsuoka said.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women and kills 32% of them.
Symptoms of iron toxicity include the following:
Fatigue
Anorexia
Dizziness
Nausea
Vomiting
Headache
Weight loss
Shortness of breath
A grayish color to the skin is a possible indication of iron toxicity.
Hemochromatosis is a genetic disorder that affects the regulation of iron absorption. The incidence may be as high as 5 in 1,000 in Caucasians. Treatment consists of a low-iron diet, no iron supplements, and phlebotomy (blood removal) on a regular basis.
Excess storage of iron in the body is known as hemosiderosis. The increased iron stores come from the consumption of excessive iron supplements or from receiving frequent blood transfusions, not from increased iron intake in the diet.
Normally, when the body has enough iron, the cells stop absorbing it from food and if there is too little iron, they absorb more. If this system breaks down, a person can absorb too much iron from the diet, leading to hemochromatosis (iron overload).
Until now, most researchers have thought that the problem stems from a faulty intestinal signal that there is too little iron, leading cells in the intestines to produce more transport proteins that draw iron inside.
However, the current study shows that the link between Hfe and iron is probably in the liver, rather than the intestine.
A SECONDARY TYPE OF IRON OVERLOAD (called HEMOSIDEROSIS) occurs in people who take large amounts of iron supplements, or in people who must have repeated blood transfusions, or who have certain other diseases. However, the body usually returns to normal processing of iron when the excess intake is eliminated.
The disease can develop at any age, but symptoms usually do not occur until middle age (between the ages of 40 and 60). Women often develop the symptoms AT A LATER AGE than men, probably because women lose significant amounts of iron through menstruation and pregnancy. The damage to the liver and other organs comes from LONG-TERM STORAGE OF EXCESSIVE IRON.
When the liver is badly damaged, scarring or hardening develops. This is called cirrhosis. Damage to the liver may also cause jaundice (yellow color to skin and eyes). Excess iron deposited in the pancreas causes it to stop making insulin, and diabetes mellitus develops. Hemochromatosis can also cause enlargement of and damage to the heart. Too much iron can be harmful to the pituitary gland (in the brain), and this may result in a number of hormone problems. Another common problem is the development of arthritis.
Further deepening a decade-old medical controversy, Finnish researchers have linked the amount of iron in the body in men to heart attacks.
In the latest study, Salonen and his team looked at 99 men who had suffered a heart attack during the last three to almost nine years, and 98 men who were healthy and who served as a "control group" for the study. The "control" group was among the 1,931 male participants in the on-going Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study who had no history of coronary heart disease, which causes heart attacks.
The men with the lowest ratio of transferrin receptors to ferritin had the most iron in their body and the most risk of heart attack.
Think about this, if a woman who doesn’t regularly lose blood still continues to eat
foods fortified with large amounts of iron, the possibility for iron toxicity, and thus, heart attacks, increases with each passing month.
There are two types of iron found in foods: heme and non-heme. Your body absorbs heme iron more easily than non-heme iron. However, foods containing non-heme iron are also very important sources of iron in your diet. (both forms of iron are in almost ALL foods, now!!)
If a non-menstruating woman eats, say, a bowl of Quaker instant grits for breakfast, that one packet has 45% of the RDA for IRON in ONE serving! Add a couple of slices of fortified toast, which might have 8% RDA of iron in 1 o2 2 slices, and she already has had 53% of an RDA of iron which she doesn’t need, and which might become toxic to her.
Lunch? Let’s see….a soy burger 10% iron, ½ cup of peas, 15%, maybe a small spinach salad on the side, another 15%, and a candy bar, for dessert, another 8% of iron, she has ingested 48 % of the RDA of iron for people who NEED iron, thus, building up more iron
in her body, than she needs. Non-menstruating women DON’T NEED this much iron!!!
Dinner? Maybe she has 4 ounces of beef, which gives her another 8-10 percent of iron, and some baked beans, another 10 percent, and some whole wheat bread, another 8 percent.
26 % of iron in that meal.
So, her total, UNNECESSARY IRON INTAKE FOR THE ONE DAY IS ABOUT
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN OF THE 100 PERCENT!
OVERLOAD! HEART DISEASE? THERE’S NOW A LINK! THINK ABOUT IT,
WOMEN!
What if she eats Total, or other cereals that give 100% of the RDA of iron and then eats
just about any other food available, she’s only adding to her chances of causing heart disease, diabetes, liver disease, and damage to other vital organs.
No one talks about this, and women are dying left and right from heart disease.
There is a link between high iron levels and heart disease.
A way to reduce iron levels is to donate blood regularly. Another way is to read
labels on foods and drinks, and adjust your intake accordingly. A third way to reduce iron absorption is to drink regular tea, pekoe tea, and to take magnesium every day.
Women need to learn more about heart disease, since it’s the NUMBER ONE KILLER of WOMEN. Yes, there are other reasons for heart disease, but, even the atherosclerosis has been recently linked to higher levels of iron in the blood!
Normal hematocrit levels FOR WOMEN are: 35 to 48 (endnotes)
Normal hemoglobin levels for women are: 12-18 (endnotes)
You can get your hematocrit levels tested free.
ENDNOTES
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/iron.asp
http://www.shands.org/health/informatio ... 002422.htm
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content ... 00/12/1260
http://www.gmhc.org/health/treatment/fa ... nemia.html
http://www.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/133/11/3598
http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/n ... n/iron.php
http://www.bchealthguide.org/healthfiles/hfile68d.stm
http://www.healthcastle.com/iron.shtml
http://scc.uchicago.edu/iron.htm
http://www.mercola.com/2003/jun/4/iron_absorption.htm
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/s ... VM,00.html
http://www.uihealthcare.com/news/news/2 ... tosis.html
http://www.womenheart.org/
http://www.scienceblog.com/community/ol ... 00086.html
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter. ... ifier=3053
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/10/ ... iron.reut/