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Iron in Men Excessive

 
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PostPosted: Dec Fri 15, 2006 1:37 pm    Post subject: Iron in Men Excessive Reply with quote

Iron in Men Excessive

While I don't always agree 100% with Dr. Mercola, his is one of the best websites by an MD that I've come across. Here is an article by Dr. Mercola - sorry, it has to be printed in entirety - but at the end under Dr. Mercola's comments, he talks about how to chelate excess iron out. He recommends phytic acid. I'm pretty sure we don't have that in NSP. I would try Heavy Metal Detox first and see how the levels stand after that. Maybe NSP can look into this pyhtic acid

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Are Antioxidant Vitamins all They are Cracked up to Be?

Antioxidant vitamins such as vitamin E and beta carotene do not ward of heart problems and beta carotene, a vitamin A source, may be harmful, according to an analysis of 15 key studies.

Antioxidants have been widely recommended for heart health, however recent studies have suggested that the pills may not be effective and may even be damaging. Some experts argue that while the pills don't seem to prevent heart attacks and premature death, they might be useful if started early and may delay the progression of heart disease or other blood vessel problems.

In the current study, researchers analyzed 15 studies involving nearly 220,000 people, most of whom had either had heart or blood vessel disease or were at an increased risk of such problems.

Eight of the studies involved beta carotene alone or in combination with other antioxidants, while seven of the studies involved vitamin E, either alone or with other antioxidants. Follow-up periods ranged from one to 12 years.

Researchers found that beta carotene was associated with a 0.3 percent increased risk of cardiovascular death and a 0.4 percent increased risk of death from any cause. They noted, however, that the harmful effect was largely due to two studies that included a lot of smokers.

Vitamin E did not reduce death from cardiovascular or any other cause and did not lower the incidence of strokes.

It was thought that antioxidant vitamins protect the heart by blocking the damaging effects of oxygen. Animal studies show favorable results with this approach and studies have found that people who eat vitamin-rich foods have less heart disease.

Experts suggest that antioxidants may work when they are in food but not necessarily when they are in pills. Additionally, they say that people who eat vitamin-rich food generally take better care of themselves, which may explain their lower heart disease risk.

However, some experts say that the role of antioxidants in delaying death or potentially benefiting other heart problems, such as cardiac arrhythmias, needs to be explored.

The Lancet June 14, 2003;361:2017-2023

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DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT: It is important to note that this study is a review and does not offer an original investigation as to the effectiveness of antioxidants. However, the results do offer us some reason for caution in our wide-scale adoption of antioxidants to prevent heart disease.

There are several reasons why the investigators may have reached these conclusions. One could be related to the differences between synthetic and natural vitamins. This was certainly true for beta carotene and its observation of actually increasing cancer rather than preventing it in scientific trials.

The second issue may be related to metabolic typing. One person may highly benefit from a specific nutrient, while another person with different genetics and subsequent metabolic type may actually worsen from the same bioidentical nutrient.

This is one of the major reasons why I have become a supplement minimalist. I can't tell you how many patients I have seen walking into my office with the proverbial shopping bag full of supplements, yet they aren't a bit better with their disease.

They have adopted a sort of allopathic nutrition where they are spending lots of money on pills to solve their problem. There is no question that supplements are far safer than drugs and do actually have a chance at solving the problem, but ultimately it is very rare for a supplement to foundationally address the root cause of the problem.

With respect to antioxidants though it is very clear to me that the most overlooked and important antioxidant is a supplement that addresses the iron overload toxicity problem that is rampant in most adult males.

Iron is a very potent oxidant stress that will virtually rust out and seriously damage many fragile enzyme systems. Fortunately, excess iron is very rare in most menstruating women as well as in children. In fact, many of these individuals are actually iron deficient, which further complicates the condition for men.

This is because our "all wise" government has allowed many companies to "fortify" foods with iron to address the deficiency issue in menstruating women and children. But while the iron can help them, it is devastating for many men.

This is one of the reasons why I always check for iron by doing a Ferritin test in nearly all my patients. If the Ferritin level is over 100, it is highly likely you have too much iron and would benefit from taking an iron chelator until it normalizes. Fortunately, phytic acid works very well in this case.

If you have an elevated Ferritin it is my view that phytic acid is a far more powerful antioxidant than all the vitamin E, beta carotene and vitamin C combined.

Related Articles:

Should You Take Vitamin Supplements?
How to Diagnose Iron Overload
Women Can Have Too Much Iron
How to Diagnose Iron Overload
Iron Can Have Devastating Effects on Your Health
Is it Hepatitis C or Iron Toxicity?

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© 2003 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Mercola is required. -Nancy
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