Iron: A Central "Bad Guy" in PeatLand

narouz

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My Ur-Peat Moment came while listening to an interview with Dr. Peat
in which he described how, as a a graduate student,
he contemplated the Yellow Fat
or Age Pigment
or Lipofuscin
present in dissecting aged and diseased bodies,
human and animal.

To come to the point here:
that Lipofuscin was composed, says Peat, mainly of
PUFA (PolyUnsaturated Fatty Acids) and
Iron.

The pervasiveness of that yellow fat/age pigment/lipofuscin could be observed
in greatest volume in the bodies of aged people
and in people who had very high estrogen levels.

"Q: How does excess iron accelerate our aging process?

Peat: During aging, our tissues tend to store an excess of iron. There is a remarkably close association between the amount of iron stored in our tissues and the risk of death from cancer, heart disease, or from all causes. This relationship between iron and death rate exists even during childhood, but the curve is downward until the age of 12, and then it rises steadily until death. The shape of this curve, representing the iron burden, is amazingly similar to the curves representing the rate of death in general, and the rate of death from cancer. There is no other relationship in biology that I know of that has this peculiar shape, with its minimum at the age of 12, and its maximum in old age at the time of death.

One of the major lines of aging research, going back to the early part of this century, was based on the accumulation of a brown material in the tissues known as "age-pigment." The technical name for this material, "lipofuscin," means "fatty brown stuff." In the 1960s, the "free radical theory" of aging was introduced by Denham Harman, and this theory has converged with the age-pigment theory, since we now know that the age-pigment is an oxidized mass of unsaturated fat and iron, formed by uncontrolled free radicals. Until a few years ago, these ideas were accepted by only a few researchers, but now practically every doctor in the country accepts that free radicals are important in the aging process. A nutrition researcher in San Diego suspected that the life-extending effects of calorie restriction might be the result of a decreased intake of toxins. He removed the toxic heavy metals from foods, and found that the animals which ate a normal amount of food lived as long as the semi-starved animals. Recently, the iron content of food has been identified as the major life-shortening factor, rather than the calories. [Choi and Yu, Age vol. 17, page 93, 1994.] "

--Ray Peat
from "Iron's Dangers"

Iron tends to be stored in greater amount in hypothyroid people.
Many of us here on this forum tend to be hypothyroid.

We focus a lot here on the dangers of PUFA and estrogen,
but I think Iron is a sortuv overlooked villain.
About 8 months ago my ferritin (the lab test that is used to estimate iron stores)
was around 350.
About 4 months ago it was around 850. :shock:

For starters,
it would be interesting to hear ferritin levels from posters....
 

Birdie

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Hi narouz,

The last time I check, my ferritin was 7. The year before it was 14. Although the old lab levels showed a normal range starting at 9, I was working on getting mine up a little when I saw the 7. I had given blood for the first time a few months before the last labs were done.

I have noticed that I've gotten no new age spots on my hands. The ones I have are pretty light. Much darker a couple of years ago.

Have you given blood? Do you drink coffee with meat? What do you think is the reason for those high values?
 

Franz

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I've been told I have hemochromatisis. A genetic disease causing my body to store too much iron. my ferritin was over 300 when I was diagnosed and I started giving blood to lower it. The doctor said it would be best to keep it under 50.
 

Birdie

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This is a good one. It's part of the Ray Peat article Charlie posted on Iron:


Iron destroys vitamin E, so vitamin E should be taken as a supplement. It shouldn't be taken at the same time as the iron-contaminated food, because iron reacts with it in the stomach. About 100 mg. per day is adequate, though our requirement increases with age, as our tissue iron stores increase. Coffee, when taken with food, strongly inhibits the absorption of iron, so I always try to drink coffee with meat. Decreasing your consumption of unsaturated fats makes the iron less harmful. Vitamin C stimulates the absorption of iron, so it might be a good idea to avoid drinking orange juice at the same meal with iron-rich foods. A deficiency of copper causes our tissues to retain an excess of iron, so foods such as shrimp and oysters which contain abundant copper should be used regularly.
 

Orchid

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My iron levels tested today are around 47. I've donated blood twice, and went to donate blood again today and they said my pulse was too high(lol) to donate.
 

charlie

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Orchid, what was your pulse?
 

Birdie

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Where I live your pulse just needs to be under 100 to donate.
 

Orchid

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It had to be under 110 the last 2 times I donated as well. She mentioned something about having an allergic reaction and "wow that's fast" when she tested by hand the second time. In her defense though, the first time she tested it was 115(was bike riding there)
 

Birdie

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Orchid said:
It had to be under 110 the last 2 times I donated as well. She mentioned something about having an allergic reaction and "wow that's fast" when she tested by hand the second time. In her defense though, the first time she tested it was 115(was bike riding there)
Hope you can give blood next time.
How was your Hgb? They always take mine. I wonder if that is universal?
 

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