Help Reducing Iron

[chamberarrow]

Hi, this is my first post here. I have been lurking quite some time and learning quite a bit.

From what I now understand, I may have screwed myself up through following a high meat/high iron containing diet. What I mean is I believe (and I am very confident in this assumption) I have changed my weight set point through bad choice of foods and become unhealthier as a whole due to this.

I am currently 21, 5'9" 195+lbs. I am very muscular as well, my guess is 17-18% bodyfat. In june 2018 I weighed 189lbs and I looked the best and was the strongest I ever was. That same month I injured myself severely in volleyball, both my knee meniscus were torn, grade I on the left and grade II-III(nearly 100% torn) and left hamstring strain as well as my right ACL torn grade II, I got lucky it wasnt complete so no surgery.

Now the important part of all this is my diet during this time. Basically I was a big fan of animal foods from my history with zero carb. From what I understand, the large amounts of iron from animal foods/iron fortified pastas/etc I was consuming during this time along with Vit C must have severely loaded up my iron levels. Actually since I was 16 I have been consuming high amounts of iron foods and little dairy or anything to possibly offset and I can imagine this is what caused the creep in my weight when i did begin eating carbs again. During the last few months I tracked what I ate, at times I was consuming well over 100% of the DV of iron at times 150% from foods, Id imagine it was similar before I tracked calories years ago.

I have read quite a bit and from what I understand in normal circumstances you dont lose much iron, 1mg a day. I also read and see there are possible ways of removing iron at a much faster rate. Here's what I am at so far, please advise me on anything else that could help or whether or not these things do work.

• Weight training and sweating uses more iron up then normal, and I religiously weight train so I have that going for me.
• Zinc chelates iron from the body, supplementing zinc everyday 50mg zinc gluconate.
• Seen on here that B1 reduces iron, not sure how true that is.
• Consuming copious amounts of dairy getting at least 2000mg calcium a day, often more. I saw on here that calcium competes with iron in absorption, dont know anything about it removing more iron already stored
• Other minerals such as manganese also compete with iron
• Drink coffee twice a day, does it affect iron at all?
• Basically avoiding as much iron as possible, aiming for as little as possible and always consuming dairy with iron foods. Avoiding iron heavy proteins and fortified foods as much as possible
• I saw a link about Vitamin C reducing iron but the link was broken, any truth to this?

If anyone knows anything else that I could consume that isnt a pharmaceutical drug to speed up iron removal I would be grateful. Also if anything I listed doesnt have evidence for it, this is just what I rounded up looking around on here. Also would iron removal help my injuries heal? What can I do to help my ACL and mensicus heal faster?

 

[Mito]

It’s always good to do blood tests to confirm iron overload if you haven’t done that.

Vitamin C doesn’t have much impact on iron absorbed from meat because meat is mostly heme iron. Vitamin C does help absorb iron from non-heme iron (mostly found in plant foods).

Donating blood is probably the fastest way to lower iron.

Some people have had success lowering iron with IP6
IP6 For Iron Chelation

 

[Blossom]

Cilantro might help.

Hi Charlie!

Yes sorry I don't log in very often anymore since I'm not suffering like I used to.

After I found out it chelates iron, I did two doses a day (morning/night), about 1/3 of a bunch for each dose. I now do 1 tbsp a day of dried cilantro, and it continues to have the same effect. (The Internet says to use chlorella in tandem with cilantro, but that's just plain idiocy because chlorella is itself so high in iron. So don't listen to the Internet).

Specifically besides reducing the symptoms of excess iron (and aiding in weight loss, digestion, etc) I noticed it had an immediate effect on the pre-diabetic foot pain/burning/numbness I used to experience. After a dose of cilantro the discomfort would go away for up to eight hours (or unless I ate something high in iron like meat). Often, eating meat or other high iron food would also illicit a post nasal drip/irrigation of my tonsils, and eating a dose of cilantro would also relieve not only the irritation but also the swelling/stiffness. I'm convinced that beside the systemic benefit of cilantro iron removal for the body, it probably suppresses intestinal bacteria overgrowth temporarily.

I am hesitant to have cilantro often with meals, in case it chelates any other minerals. Though Mexican cilantro soup is AMAZING.

Another warning is that it could possibly chelate other minerals from the body, and it would be important to maintain adequate intake of the foods with high mineral content.

I second donating blood.

 

[tankasnowgod]

It’s always good to do blood tests to confirm iron overload if you haven’t done that.

Vitamin C doesn’t have much impact on iron absorbed from meat because meat is mostly heme iron. Vitamin C does help absorb iron from non-heme iron (mostly found in plant foods).

Donating blood is probably the fastest way to lower iron.

Some people have had success lowering iron with IP6
IP6 For Iron Chelation

Mito is right, it is best to test. A full iron panel with TSAT and Ferritin is best.

Donating blood is a good option as a male, even if you don't do a full iron panel. They always test hemoglobin and do a mini physical, so you don't risk anemia. But the iron panel is still a good idea.

Dietary wise, both milk and eggs are excellent foods to support lowering iron. Not only are they quality foods low in iron, but both contain iron binding and/or blocking substances. Dr. Fachinni used both in his dietary protocol that worked very well in lowering body iron stores.

Lactoferrin is another thing I've used, although I can't testify to it's success in lowering iron. IP6 did seem to work well as a complementary strategy to donation.

I don't think reducing iron would help your injuries heal faster. I think over time it helps take a burden off you immune system indirectly, so it might.

The things that I think might help injuries to heal faster are Red Light Therapy, Incline Bed Therapy, Bromelain, and additional gelatin or glycine in the diet. I've also been interested in high(er) dose Vitamin D therapy after the Coimbra discussions, and re-discovering the blog of Jeff Bowles. These are some testimonials that suggest Vitamin D (balanced out with Vitamin K2) might be good to help soft tissue heal-

Vitamin D3 Case Study #3: Plantar Fasciitis of 3 years – Completely cured in 2 weeks! | Jeff T Bowles
Vitamin D3 Case Study #4: 3-Year Dangerous Chronic Wound Completely Healed in 3 Weeks | Jeff T Bowles

 

[somuch4food]

I think you should make sure you consume copper. Especially since you are supplementing zinc.

Copper is important in iron metabolism and helps binding iron to prevent it from oxidizing and causing damage.

 

[fradon]

Hi, this is my first post here. I have been lurking quite some time and learning quite a bit.

From what I now understand, I may have screwed myself up through following a high meat/high iron containing diet. What I mean is I believe (and I am very confident in this assumption) I have changed my weight set point through bad choice of foods and become unhealthier as a whole due to this.

I am currently 21, 5'9" 195+lbs. I am very muscular as well, my guess is 17-18% bodyfat. In june 2018 I weighed 189lbs and I looked the best and was the strongest I ever was. That same month I injured myself severely in volleyball, both my knee meniscus were torn, grade I on the left and grade II-III(nearly 100% torn) and left hamstring strain as well as my right ACL torn grade II, I got lucky it wasnt complete so no surgery.

Now the important part of all this is my diet during this time. Basically I was a big fan of animal foods from my history with zero carb. From what I understand, the large amounts of iron from animal foods/iron fortified pastas/etc I was consuming during this time along with Vit C must have severely loaded up my iron levels. Actually since I was 16 I have been consuming high amounts of iron foods and little dairy or anything to possibly offset and I can imagine this is what caused the creep in my weight when i did begin eating carbs again. During the last few months I tracked what I ate, at times I was consuming well over 100% of the DV of iron at times 150% from foods, Id imagine it was similar before I tracked calories years ago.

I have read quite a bit and from what I understand in normal circumstances you dont lose much iron, 1mg a day. I also read and see there are possible ways of removing iron at a much faster rate. Here's what I am at so far, please advise me on anything else that could help or whether or not these things do work.

• Weight training and sweating uses more iron up then normal, and I religiously weight train so I have that going for me.
• Zinc chelates iron from the body, supplementing zinc everyday 50mg zinc gluconate.
• Seen on here that B1 reduces iron, not sure how true that is.
• Consuming copious amounts of dairy getting at least 2000mg calcium a day, often more. I saw on here that calcium competes with iron in absorption, dont know anything about it removing more iron already stored
• Other minerals such as manganese also compete with iron
• Drink coffee twice a day, does it affect iron at all?
• Basically avoiding as much iron as possible, aiming for as little as possible and always consuming dairy with iron foods. Avoiding iron heavy proteins and fortified foods as much as possible
• I saw a link about Vitamin C reducing iron but the link was broken, any truth to this?

If anyone knows anything else that I could consume that isnt a pharmaceutical drug to speed up iron removal I would be grateful. Also if anything I listed doesnt have evidence for it, this is just what I rounded up looking around on here. Also would iron removal help my injuries heal? What can I do to help my ACL and mensicus heal faster?

you are suppose to have coffee with your meal or up to one hour after your meal to prevent iron absorption and i read it mostly targeted at plant and grain iron and has a less effect on animal iron.

there was post on here a few months back of the person chelating iron with cilantro. when she went in for her second blood test her iron had reduced significantly.

running and jumping rope reduces iron by blood loss through heal strike

donating blood

testosterone replacement therapy will boost hemoglobin and reduce iron

the worst iron offender though is reduced iron which nothing more than iron filing in the food like instantly oat meal, breads, cereals, and baked goods. best to avoid get organic or make at home

 

[InChristAlone]

It's B2 that helps iron. Your good bacteria need it so if it's not there then you'll have more pathogens and those pathogens thrive on iron.