Types of Iron: Heme Iron, Non-Heme Iron

What it is: A MINERAL that is essential not only to good health but also to life itself. The bulk of the iron in the human body is in the red blood cells' hemoglobin; in fact, it is what makes blood red. Hemoglobin shuttles oxygen from the lungs to every body cell, and without iron, hemoglobin cannot do its job. Another compound, myoglobin, grabs iron from hemoglobin and stores it in muscles where it's crucial to proper muscle function. On hemoglobin's trip to the lungs, its iron carries carbon dioxide, which we then expel as we exhale. And that's not all. Iron is part of the chemical makeup of several vital enzymes and proteins and plays a major role in energy metabolism.

All dietary iron, however, is not created equal. There are two basic types: heme iron, the easily absorbable form that accounts for 40 percent of the iron in meats, and nonheme iron, the not-so-easily assimilable form present in vegetables. How well the body absorbs it depends on many things — whether there's sufficient VITAMIN C, whether antacids, high-FIBER or OXALATE-rich foods, or coffee or tea are also present. Each of them can thwart the body's ability to absorb iron.

Deficiency Symptoms

Children deficient in iron often display many of the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder — restlessness, disruptiveness, inability to concentrate — and these may appear long before blood tests show any lack of iron. The reason is that a child's brain reacts to an iron deficit early on. Adults deficient in iron, on the other hand, tire easily, become apathetic, unmotivated — and usually before anemia develops.

An iron deficiency is usually defined as dwindling reserves of iron in the body in general. Anemia, on the other hand, refers specifically to reduced levels of hemoglobin. With less iron present, the blood cells can't ferry sufficient oxygen from the lungs to body tissues. Symptoms of anemia include extreme fatigue, overall weakness, headaches, apathy and pallor.

Good Sources

Molasses (especially blackstrap), calf's liver, dried beans, dried prunes and prune juice, iron-FORTIFIED cereals, whole-wheat and enriched bread, meat and poultry, broccoli, beet greens, kale and, yes, Popeye's spinach.

Precautions

If the body is to absorb iron properly, it needs vitamin C. Certain other compounds block the body's ability to absorb iron: antacids, DIETARY FIBER, coffee, tea, PHOSPHATES salts such as calcium phosphate, and phytates (substances found in whole grains and soy products).

Is it possible to OD on iron? Absolutely! In fact, several new studies (among them ones conducted at Harvard and in Finland) suggest that most normal adults are more likely to get too much iron than too little. This iron overload, they further suggest, increases the risk of both cardiovascular disease and cancer, particularly of the colon. The excess iron bonds with free radicals, scavenging by-products of metabolism that damage cells and increase the risk of cancer (studies with mice show that the more iron they eat, the faster their cancers grow). Most nutritionists agree that if you're healthy and eating a well-balanced diet, there's no need for iron supplements (unless you're pregnant and your doctor prescribes them). Some biomedical researchers go even further, suggesting that you eat less red meat (be guided by the Food Guide Pyramid), exercise regularly and become a blood donor. The blood letting of early medicine, they believe, wasn't such a bad idea after all because it does lower iron levels.

Some two thousand American children suffer from iron poisoning every year, mostly because they've gobbled powerful iron supplements that were carelessly left within their reach (all it takes to kill a 22-pound toddler are five 110-milligram iron pills).

Sometimes hemochromatosis, a possibly inherited inability to metabolize iron, is responsible for an iron buildup. Overloads of iron can damage the liver and pancreas, leading in some cases to diabetes.

Standard Process Supplements

Ferrofood, Chlorophyll Complex Perles Fat Soluble