By Angela Bronwyn

Scientific research shows that iron is not a factor in coronary heart disease, so there's no reason to fear taking iron supplements.

 Iron Deficiency

Iron is essential for the proper formation of healthy bones and red blood cells. It is required for protein metabolism and for the conversion of beta carotene to vitamin A. Iron deficiency, a lack of adequate iron in the blood, can have many negative effects on health. Signs of iron deficiency include: general weakness, dizziness, shortness of breath, pale skin, lack of appetite, fluid retention, skin sores, decreased performance, slow cognitive and social development during childhood, difficulty maintaining body temperature and decreased immune function. During pregnancy, iron deficiency is associated with increased risk of premature delivery, low birth weight and maternal complications.

Iron and Heart Disease

The trend towards iron-free nutritional supplements started with the 1992 Finnish study by Salonen et al. In this study, researchers found that Finnish men whose blood iron levels were high had 2.2 times the incidence of heart attacks compared to the rest of the population. However, three major studies published since the Finnish report have found no relationship between coronary heart disease and elevated iron status. In the 1994 review, Iron Metabolism in Health and Disease, the authors looked at people with severe iron overload from hereditary hemochromatosis and found the incidence of heart disease no higher than in the general population. Other than the Finnish report, there has been little evidence to show that supplemental iron plays any role in increasing the incidence of coronary heart disease. Scientific research shows that iron is not a factor in coronary heart disease, so there’s no reason to fear taking iron supplements.

Iron Intake In North America

More than 95% of women in a recent dietary survey had iron intakes below the recommended daily allowance (RDA), and about half the women in their childbearing years had intakes below the estimated requirements. Data gathered in a classic study by Raper et al show that the majority of the women in the study did not consume even 70% of the RDA, which put them at risk for iron deficiency. A recent news release from the Canadian National Institute of Nutrition publication, NIN Review, states, "With so much hype about dietary excess, it is easy to forget that a problem like iron deficiency still exists in Canada. Yet, some studies have found signs of iron deficiency in 25% to 39% of young women"

Millions of Women and Children are Iron Deficient

According to The Journal of the American Medical Association (March 27, 1997), iron deficiency and iron-deficiency anemia remains a significant health problem for toddlers, adolescent girls, and women in their childbearing years. Between the years 1988 and 1994, 24,894 individuals aged one year and older were examined in the third National Health Nutrition Examination Survey III, at the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Hyattsville, Maryland. The researchers found that nine percent of all toddlers aged one to two years were iron deficient, and three percent of the toddlers had iron-deficiency anemia. Nine to 11 percent of adolescent girls and women of childbearing age were iron deficient, and iron-deficiency anemia was seen in two to five percent of the women and girls. The researchers concluded that these numbers indicated that iron deficiency is still a significant health problem.

Iron and Infants

Aspirin overdose is the leading cause of pediatric emergency room visits every year; iron overdose is second. This problem illustrates the importance of teaching children to only take pills given by a parent. All medication and iron supplements must have child-proof caps and be kept out of reach of children.

Iron Supplements

Iron supplements tend to be difficult to digest unless they are properly chelated with amino acids. Most other forms have poor biological availability and often create undesirable gastric side effects, including constipation.


Dosage

In 2001, the Institute of Medicine set a tolerable upper intake level (UL) of 40 mg per day for infants and children through age 13 and 45 mg per day for adults and adolescents ages 14 and older. The upper limit does not apply to individuals who receive iron under medical supervision.

References

1. Salonen JU, Nyyssonen K, Korpela H, et al (1992). High Stored Iron Levels Associated with Excess Risk of Myocardial Infarction in Western Finnish Men. Circulation 86:803-811

2. Raper, N.R., Rosenthal, J.C., and Woteki, C.E., Estimates of Available Iron in Diets of Individuals One Year and Older in the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey. J Am Diet Assoc, 84: 783-787 (1984)

3. Alexander RW (1994). Inflammation and Coronary Heart Disease. N Engl J Med 331:468-469.

4. Sempos CT, Looker AC, Gillum RF, Makuc DM (1994). Body Iron Stores and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease. N Engl J Med 330:1119-1124.

5. Stampfer MJ, Grodstein F, Rosenberg I, et al (1993). A Prospective Study of Plasma Ferritin and the Risk of Myocardial Infarction in US Physicians. Circulation 87:11.

6. Giles WH, Anda RF, Williamson DF, et al (1994). Body Iron Stores and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease. N Engl J Med 331:1159-1160.

7. Powell LW, Jazwinska E, Halliday JW (1994). Primary Iron Overload. In Brock JH, Halliday JW, Pippard MJ, Powell LW (eds), Iron Metabolism in Health and Disease. WB Saunders, London, pp227-270.

8. CSFII Report No. 85-5, Hyattsville, Md., US Department of Agriculture, 1988.

9. Monson, E.R., Hallberg, L., Larysse, M., et al., Estimation of Available Dietary Iron. Am J Clin Nutr 31:134-141 (1978).

10. Clinical Nutrition Service, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, in conjunction with the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) in the Office of tof NIH.

This article has appeared in, and is supplied courtesy of  VISTA Magazine