The problems of puzzles are very near the problems of life, our whole life is solving puzzles. If you are hungry, you have to find something to eat.

-Erno Rubik - Architect, and inventor of the Rubik's Cube

euroscientists have discovered that mental exercise, in the form of puzzles, can keep our mind energized and sharp throughout our lifetime. And although it’s probably not exactly what Erno Rubik had in mind when he uttered the above quote, it’s hard to imagine a more worthwhile “puzzle” for us to tackle than the puzzle of finding proper nutrition in our modern-age.

Solving this puzzle can certainly seem difficult at times, but the reward is the greatest prize of all - a lifetime of vibrant health and well-being. It’s only fitting, if we start to view nutrition as a series of interconnected puzzles just waiting to be solved, that we begin with a look at iron - one of the longest-studied, but still most mysterious nutrients in all of human nutrition.

The Puzzle of Iron:

Without iron, we, along with almost every other animal species on earth, would suffer a quick, and particularly painful, demise. Even schoolchildren know that iron is needed for building healthy red blood cells, and for proper energy production. But although it’s true that iron is essential for life, it’s equally true that iron stimulates infectious disease, increases oxidative stress, causes gastrointestinal damage, and contributes greatly to accelerated aging and bodily degeneration. It may run contrary to everything you’ve ever been told, but with all of iron’s potential dangers, the over-consumption of iron – especially from iron supplements, and iron-fortified foods - is largely responsible for much of the ill-health and disease prevalent in this country today.

(Note: For more information on the dangers of iron, please see the February 2008 Integrated Supplements Newsletter.)

Iron’s role in our body is much like that of radioactive uranium in a nuclear power plant. Of course, both are needed for energy production, but only in very small amounts, and both always need to be handled very carefully - without proper protection, both minerals can impart disastrous consequences.

Of course, unlike the damage caused by a full-blown nuclear meltdown, the damage iron can cause is more insidious – it accumulates gradually over the years, often without exhibiting any outward symptoms at all. As we age, our protective cellular proteins are known to lose their efficiency. They continually “fumble” more and more iron which causes more and more damage to the delicate structures of our cells. Making matters worse, unlike other nutrients, our body doesn’t possess efficient mechanisms for ridding itself of iron when an excess is present. Iron levels, and iron-induced free radical damage are both known to steadily increase as we get older.

The puzzle of iron then, is two-fold: The first part is: how do we ensure that our body can absorb, transport, and utilize iron safely and efficiently? And the second: how do we prevent iron from building up in our bodies to levels which will accelerate aging and degenerative disease?

In beginning to solve this puzzle, we should realize that the food industry, medical community, and much of the nutritional supplement crowd are at least 50 years behind the times in their knowledge of iron metabolism. If we look to them for help, there’s a good chance that we’ll only increase iron-induced damage, making our health decidedly worse.

But as with most puzzles in nutrition, we’ll see that Nature has made the solution very clear – if we’ll simply remember to follow her lead. The first step is to forget everything your physician, dietician, teachers, and television have told you.

Iron In Infancy

The complexities of iron metabolism can be better understood by looking at the regulation of iron in infancy. Nature, of course, has a vested interest in protecting the young, and has developed exquisite methods of engineering designed to supply the growing infant with the iron it needs - while at the same time protecting its delicate tissues from the damage iron can cause. “But what does iron metabolism in infancy have to do with us as adults?” you may ask. Quite a bit as it turns out. We’ll be able to use the lessons we learn from babies to protect ourselves from the harmful effects of iron at any stage of our lives.

From the very moment we’re born, our bodies’ lifelong love-hate relationship with iron begins. At birth, the intestinal tract of the newborn is sterile, meaning it contains no bacteria. But within minutes of delivery, beneficial organisms known as lactic acid bacteria begin to colonize in the infant gut. These lactic acid bacteria help the newborn to digest the complex proteins in mother’s milk and also serve as a first line of defense against harmful pathogenic bacteria which could harm or even kill the infant. Even in adulthood, it’s estimated that 80% of the functioning of our immune system takes place in the gastrointestinal tract, continually protecting us from many of these same harmful organisms.

Interestingly, lactic acid bacteria are the only “animal” organisms known to be able to live without iron. All other animals require iron for life, and infectious organisms like viruses, fungi, and “bad” bacteria are known to actually thrive in the presence of iron.

Study Link - Lactic acid bacteria: Micro-organisms able to grow in the absence of available iron and copper.

So, for some time after birth, until the protective lactic acid bacteria become well-established, it’s important that the infant GI tract be as iron-free as possible to prevent the growth of harmful organisms. It’s for this reason that Nature, in her infinite wisdom, designed the perfect food for babies – mother’s milk – with virtually no iron.

To boot, what little iron mother’s milk does contain is absorbed efficiently, and is protected from doing damage or feeding pathogenic bacteria by the presence of highly specialized iron-binding proteins.

Unfortunately, such protective measures are completely absent from man-made infant formulas. Not only do these formulas contain iron, but without the proper types of proteins found in mother’s milk, this iron will be poorly absorbed. So, how do the producers of infant formulas get around this little problem? Why, by upping the dose of iron, of course (and, in a stultifying display of biological ignorance, adding vitamin C as well - which we’ll discuss later).

Not only is unprotected, free-iron in the gastrointestinal tract the perfect fuel for pathogenic organisms, but the free radical-generating capacity of such iron is also prone to do damage to the delicate tissue of the intestines themselves. In fact, much of the digestive disturbances attributed to protein allergies in formula-fed infants may, in part, be due to direct iron-induced damage to the gastrointestinal tract.

So, why you may ask, do the producers of infant formulas (formulas which we’re apparently supposed to believe are just a hair’s breadth away from mother’s milk in nutritional quality) even include iron in their products in the first place when it’s largely unnecessary and even potentially harmful? Simple answer: the all-too-common combination of short-sighted ignorance and boundless greed.

It’s well-known that women require more iron during pregnancy to build the red blood cells which are supplied to the growing fetus. But it’s not so well known that, derived from its mother’s supply, an infant carried to full term will usually have between 6 months to a year’s worth of iron stored its tissues to support proper growth. Contrary to popular belief, most babies do not require dietary iron until solid foods are introduced into the diet. To deliver massive doses of iron to an infant’s GI tract before their immune systems have developed, and before the protective lactic acid bacteria have had time to take a foothold in the gut, is only asking for trouble.

Researchers have found that, unlike breast-fed babies, infants receiving iron-fortified baby formula are more susceptible to infectious (and often fatal) diseases:

Study Link - Infant diet and salmonellosis.

Quote from the above study:

. . . breast-feeding apparently protects against the development of physician-diagnosed clinical salmonellosis, while the feeding of high-iron infant formula has the opposite effect.

Many people are surprised to learn that in this land of plenty, the United States currently ranks 28th in the world in infant mortality. An analysis of the published research has shown that babies fed infant formula have double the death rate of breast-fed infants:

Article Link - U.S. Babies Die at Higher Rate

Article Link - Formula Feeding Doubles Infant Deaths in America

And several studies also link the iron in infant formulas to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS):

Study Link - Role of iron in sudden infant death syndrome.

Quote from the above study:

Many studies on sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) have cited non-breastfeeding as a primary risk factor. The much larger quantity of available iron in the diet of non-breast-fed infants, as compared with those given human milk, permits multiplication and toxigenesis of such pathogens as Salmonella and Clostridium. Excessive quantities of iron in proprietary formulas and supplements given to infants <6 months have been associated with increased risk of salmonellosis, botulism, and SIDS.

Study Link - Association of sudden infant death syndrome with grossly deranged iron metabolism and nitric oxide overload.

Study Link - Liver iron concentrations in sudden infant death syndrome.

Quote from the above study:

“The median liver iron concentration in the SIDS infants was 296 micrograms/g wet weight; significantly higher than the median of 105 micrograms/g in controls.”

It’s actually a wonder that more babies aren’t seriously or acutely harmed by the nutritional incompetence exhibited by the makers of infant formula. But even if children escape from infancy seemingly unharmed, they may not be out of the woods yet. Some researchers have recently begun to link iron fortification of baby formula and children’s foods to the development of childhood autism, allergies, skin disorders, and leukemia (see references in the February 2008 Integrated Supplements Newsletter).

Of course, the grand scale production of nutritionally poor and potentially harmful infant formulas is a serious problem in and of itself, but for our purposes here, the lesson we should learn is that it’s not just babies that are susceptible to iron toxicity. As adults, the fact that most nutritional “experts” haven’t a clue of the complexities of iron metabolism puts all of us at risk. It should come as no surprise that the same sort of short-sighted thinking which is responsible for infant formulas has also led to the rampant iron-fortification of the adult food supply as well - and to the massively excessive use of iron supplements for decades.

But after seeing how exquisitely real mother’s milk protects the delicate newborn from the ravages of excess or unbound iron, we’re ready to show you how we as adults can recreate these effects and protect ourselves as well.

Iron And Our Good Bacteria

We’ve mentioned previously, that in the healthy body, the troublemaker iron is never left to roam around the body unprotected by various proteins. But during digestion, while iron is floating around in our gastrointestinal tract, our body obviously hasn’t yet had a chance to safely “shackle” it to iron-binding proteins. Not only can this free iron support the growth of toxic bacteria in the intestines, but it’s well documented that iron from food and supplements damages the delicate cells of the intestines themselves.

Some epidemiological (population-based) and animal studies have shown that the free-radical damage caused by iron in the gastrointestinal tract may be largely responsible for colon cancer, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, and various conditions involving intestinal inflammation. Perhaps this effect of iron is one reason why red meat has been implicated in colon cancer in some studies, while other types of meat (containing less iron than red meat) have not.

Study Link - Red Meat and Colon Cancer - The Cytotoxic and Hyperproliferative Effects of Dietary Heme.

Quote from the above study:

This suggests that, in heme-fed rats, colonic mucosa is damaged by the intestinal contents. This results in a compensatory hyperproliferation of the epithelium, which supposedly increases the risk for colon cancer.

(Note: Heme is an iron-containing component of hemoglobin.)

There are many substances in food - components of some vegetables, herbs, and grains - which have been shown to prevent the oxidative damage which iron can cause to the cells of the colon. These substances usually bind iron tightly during digestion and take it out of the system before it can be absorbed and before free iron can come in contact with the colon’s delicate cells.

Such foods can be very beneficial for some, but obviously, not everyone wants to inhibit their iron absorption in this way. Some people do, in fact, need more iron in their blood. But whether we need more iron in our blood or not, everyone - young and old, male or female - will want to minimize iron’s harmful effects on the intestines as much as possible. So logically, scientists wondered if there were substances which could inhibit iron-induced oxidative damage to the intestines without hindering iron absorption.

As it turns out, a strain of a common type of beneficial bacteria was shown to do just that:

Study Link - Suppressive Effects of Bifidobacteria on Lipid Peroxidation in the Colonic Mucosa of Iron-Overloaded Mice.

This study showed that a particular strain of “good bacteria” called bifidobacteria bifidum (a lactic acid-producing bacteria) was able to prevent iron’s damaging effects without inhibiting iron absorption. The researchers don’t know exactly how they exert this effect, but it’s quite possible that these bacteria protect us in a way similar to how the newborn is protected – by forcing out the more iron-hungry pathogenic bacteria – or possibly, by protecting iron in a way similar to our bodies’ own iron binding proteins.

Whatever the mechanism of action, research like this is more evidence that we should all be taking steps to ensure a healthy level of good bacteria in our intestines at every stage of our lives. Foods made using active bacterial cultures like yogurt or kefir are traditional sources. Nutritional supplements of probiotic “friendly” bacteria are good choices as well (your local health food store will have many different brands of probiotic supplements to choose from). And since these lactic acid-producing bacteria flourish in the presence of soluble fiber, foods and supplements containing soluble fiber are a must for supporting healthy levels of the good bacteria.

Knowing full-well how important these good bacteria are to overall health, at Integrated Supplements, we specifically created the fiber supplement, Fiber Balance™, with high levels of the precise soluble fibers which the good bacteria need to grow and thrive. In fact, because of their powerful ability to support the friendly bacteria, many of the fiber sources in Fiber Balance™ have recently been dubbed prebiotics.

One such prebiotic in Fiber Balance™ is inulin - a unique type of soluble fiber usually derived from chicory roots. It’s been shown that, because of its effects on the beneficial bacteria, that inulin may actually be able to enhance iron-absorption when a person is deficient, but not when a person’s iron stores are adequate. This modulating effect on iron absorption not only helps the iron-deficient person, but also protects people with normal iron status from developing iron overload - a valuable trait which makes inulin protective for anyone regardless of their iron levels.

Prebiotic fibers like inulin may be especially valuable for children, pre-menopausal women, and athletes - groups whose iron requirements are the highest, and who also tend to have the most sensitive, and easily damaged GI tracts.

Study Link - Supplemental Dietary Inulin Affects the Bioavailability of Iron in Corn and Soybean Meal to Young Pigs

Quote from the above study:

Enriching inulin in staple crops may benefit the iron-deficient population without putting the iron-adequate population at risk of iron excess.

Inulin, through fostering the growth of the good bacteria, may also be able to support a healthy immune response in children, as indicated in this study:

Study Link - Pediatric Applications of Inulin and Oligofructose

Quote from the above study:

Clinical studies have demonstrated that these prebiotic formulas [i.e. inulin] have significant effects on flora composition, improve stool consistency, decrease intestinal permeability, and reduce the incidence of gastrointestinal (GI) and respiratory infections and atopic dermatitis.

Good Bacteria Love Protein and Fiber

Going hand-in-hand with fiber in supporting the good bacteria is protein. Each of the over one hundred trillion bacterial cells in our gastrointestinal tract (both the good and bad types) need protein to support their structure and growth just the way we do. Shifting the balance of our intestinal ecosystem towards the good bacteria is where protein and soluble fiber become such a powerful combination.

Researchers as far back as the early twentieth century noted that protein foods like meat, when consumed without soluble fiber or a source of fermentable carbohydrate (like lactose in milk), produced a toxifying effect on the body. It seems that protein taken alone supports the growth of bad bacteria in the intestines in a similar fashion to how meat “supports the growth” of bad bacteria when it spoils. These researchers noted that this toxifying effect, or, “putrefaction” as they called it, was prevented by consuming meats along with probiotic-rich foods, as well as carbohydrates and fibers which fed the good bacteria.

Around the same time, Russian researcher Elie Metchnikoff attributed the remarkable longevity he noted among the Bulgarian peasant-class to their frequent consumption of yogurt. Metchnikoff even named one of the strains of lactic acid-producing bacteria still found in yogurt today, lactobacillus bulgaricus, after the Bulgarians. It’s tempting to theorize that perhaps one of the reasons that traditional cultures who consumed meat didn’t succumb to iron excess, colon cancer or other gastrointestinal disorders, is because they consumed such a large amount of cultured, probiotic-rich foods, and their diet was sure to be higher in soluble fiber than ours is today.

The take-home lesson for us is that protein combined with prebiotic fiber will support the growth of the beneficial lactic acid-producing bacteria at the expense of the bad bacteria. This will naturally shift the balance of our gut flora towards the healthy organisms which can protect our GI tract from iron and numerous other toxins in food.

Whey Protein Contains Lactoferrin

And the protective benefits of protein aren’t just limited to the gastrointestinal tract. Once it’s absorbed into the bloodstream, dietary protein also supports the production of the metabolic proteins which help our body transport and store iron safely. Insufficient protein has been shown to increase iron’s toxicity, and a lack of quality protein may be a common reason why iron-fortification of the food supply in third world nations has been shown to increase susceptibility to infection. Malaria outbreaks have repeatedly been pesky and embarrassing side-effects of well-intentioned iron-fortification programs in such countries.

And even here in the US, though it’s often assumed that all of us eat a diet chock-full of quality protein, such is not always the case. Children, vegetarians, vegans, the poor, the sick, and the elderly often consume, at the very least, sub-optimal amounts of protein. The diets of these people are often lacking in many nutrients, but unlike sub-optimal protein intake, iron deficiency is on the radar screen of every physician in America. At the first sign of inefficient blood-building, the patient will almost always be given doctor’s orders to consume extra iron, or iron supplements. But if protein intake continues to be sub-par, this extra iron is certain to do more harm than good.

As a protein source for those looking to safely improve their iron status, whey protein isolate may be the perfect choice. Not only is whey isolate one of the highest quality proteins available, but whey isolate even contains certain protein microfractions which are tailor-made for safely transporting iron. These proteins in whey isolate have been shown to be even more effective at increasing iron status and hemoglobin status than iron itself. And unlike iron, these proteins have been proven perfectly safe in any reasonable dose.

In fact, numerous studies have shown that the major iron-binding protein in whey, called lactoferrin, is not only able to protect us from iron’s negative effects, but is also able to safely enhance iron’s positive effects as well. Unlike other food components which bind iron and impair iron absorption, lactoferrin can bind to iron when necessary, and can also release it for use when the metabolic conditions are just right.

By sequestering iron, and by depriving invading viruses and bacteria of the iron they need to thrive, lactoferrin has been shown to support the immune system, improve the growth of lactic acid bacteria, and to benefit overall gastrointestinal health (and with what we’ve covered so far, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that human mother’s milk contains very large amounts of lactoferrin).

For people with low iron levels, lactoferrin can be an especially valuable way to boost iron levels without the risks of consuming more iron

The administration of lactoferrin alone has been shown to impart a blood-building effect by increasing hemoglobin and serum iron levels in pregnant women even without additional iron being taken. In fact, the following study shows that the administration of lactoferrin was even more effective at elevating hemoglobin and serum iron levels, and had fewer side-effects, than iron supplements themselves!

Study Link - Oral administration of lactoferrin increases hemoglobin and total serum iron in pregnant women.

Because lactoferrin improves iron status, while at the same time combating the pro-oxidant, pro-infection effects of iron, this whey protein has the potential to, quite literally, save millions of lives in the third world where both iron deficiency and infectious diseases are common. Lactoferrin may also be able to reduce an untold amount of iron-induced suffering, and age-related degeneration in industrialized nations as well; but even for all of its many benefits, don’t expect lactoferrin to necessarily become a household word any time soon. It can take decades for even the best research to influence the “standard” nutritional advice we receive in this country. In fact, after reading this section, you are probably more familiar with the effects of lactoferrin than your doctor. For those of us who don’t see the need to wait decades to reap lactoferrin’s benefits, we can obtain lactoferrin today from properly prepared whey protein isolate, and even stand-alone lactoferrin supplements.

(Note: As is the case with so many of whey protein’s benefits, to receive the full benefits of lactoferrin, it’s important that the whey protein you chose contain proteins in their native, unaltered forms. Many whey proteins are “broken” or denatured through processing and, as a result, may lose much of their biological activity. Integrated Supplements CFM® Whey Protein Isolate contains the highest level of undenatured, unaltered protein available in any protein supplement [including approximately 1% lactoferrin], as well as the lowest levels of cholesterol.)

The fact that lactoferrin is able to increase hemoglobin and serum iron levels better than iron supplements is very clear evidence that our efforts to improve iron status should be focused first on supplying the nutrients needed for proper iron metabolism – and not necessarily iron itself.

In other words, iron is often present in the body in sufficient amounts, but it’s just waiting for other nutrients to be present as well before it can be used properly and safely.

Blood-Building Nutrients Besides Iron

Like lactoferrin, many other nutrients besides iron have been shown to boost hemoglobin and red blood cell production.

Often times, especially in industrialized nations, dietary iron intake may be perfectly adequate; but the individual is diagnosed as iron-deficient because either the absorption of iron is sub-optimal, or some of the nutrients needed for proper iron metabolism and blood-building are lacking.

To sketch just a brief example, many disorders of aging are known to involve reduced synthesis of heme, an iron-containing protein essential for hemoglobin production and proper energy metabolism. Where iron is integral to heme production, some researchers have taken this fact to mean that iron itself may be deficient if heme is deficient.

But while heme synthesis is dependent upon iron, it’s also dependent upon several other nutrients including lipoic acid, Vitamin B6, copper, and zinc. Inefficient heme production due to a lack of these accessory nutrients in aging may even be one reason why free iron accumulates in aging and diseased tissues – it just “sits there” in the cell because it can’t be utilized properly.

Think of a car’s engine flooded with gasoline – obviously hitting the gas pedal, and supplying more gas to the cylinder will only make things worse. Similarly, supplying iron, as is often done at the first signs of inefficient blood-building, often only exacerbates iron-induced side-effects without addressing the underlying problem.

Study Link - Heme deficiency may be a factor in the mitochondrial and neuronal decay of aging.

In addition to the nutritional factors we previously mentioned, a reasonable approach to supporting blood building without additional iron would also include:

Digestive Support

Inefficient digestion and the use of antacids are both well-known to impair iron absorption. Any strategy to improve iron metabolism should first focus upon rectifying underlying digestive disorders. In addition to the probiotics and fiber which we’ve already mentioned, the use of digestive enzymes, bile acids, and betaine HCL (which is sort of a supplemental source of stomach acid) can all be used to improve overall digestion, and iron absorption to boot. With digestive disturbances quickly reaching epidemic proportions in this country, it’s sad to see that the local health food store often remains an untapped resource. Unlike the pharmaceuticals which essentially treat digestive problems backwards - by actually hindering digestion, instead of supporting it - nutritional supplements offer many physiologically sound options.

Once our digestive ability is strong, only then can we begin to look at the nutritional composition of our diet. We’ll find that a host of other nutrients are needed for proper iron metabolism, many of which are more apt to be deficient in our diet than iron itself.

B Vitamins Support Healthy Blood

B Complex supplements, especially “Stress B Complex” (which will contain relatively balanced ratios of B vitamins) are a good place to start. For vegetarians, or people with trouble absorbing vitamin B-12, a sublingual B-12 supplement may also be a good choice. It should be noted that B-12 deficiency is another common cause of anemia.

Vitamin A Supports Healthy Blood

Vitamin A, especially when supplemented with iron, has been shown to be surprisingly effective in reversing anemia in pregnant women:

Study Link - Supplementation with vitamin A and iron for nutritional anaemia in pregnant women in West Java, Indonesia.

Quote from the above study:

After supplementation, the proportion of women who became non-anaemic was 35% in the vitamin-A-supplemented group, 68% in the iron-supplemented group, 97% in the group supplemented with both, and 16% in the placebo group.

According to the above study, 35% of women were able to reverse their anemia by taking vitamin A alone, showing again that anemia isn’t simply an iron deficiency disorder as most people have been led to believe. The study showed an almost complete reversal of anemia (97%) in women taking both Vitamin A and iron. Where the American diet will almost certainly contain more iron than the diet of the Indonesians in the study, vitamin A supplementation alone would seem to be a reasonable strategy to support blood-building without the risks of consuming iron supplements.

Copper – A Major Piece of the Iron Puzzle

We haven’t the space here to cover all of iron’s many accessory nutrients, but one of the most important, and often overlooked, nutrients in iron metabolism is copper.

It’s known that too much iron can block copper absorption and can lower copper levels in the body. Low copper levels have been associated with a shocking list of symptoms, many of which (not coincidentally) mimic the symptoms of iron overload. It has even been proposed that heart disease (in which excess iron plays a major role as we have seen) may be largely due to a copper deficiency.

Quote:

Copper deficiency is the only nutritional insult that elevates cholesterol, blood pressure, homocysteine and uric acid, has adverse effects on electrocardiograms and arteries, impairs glucose tolerance, promotes thrombosis and oxidative damage, and to which males respond differently than females. More than 80 anatomical, chemical and physiological similarities between animals deficient in copper and people with ischemic heart disease have been identified. Iron overload can induce copper deficiency.

From the study: Ischemic Heart Disease as Deficiency Disease.

Copper, like iron, is essential for the production of hemoglobin. But unlike iron, copper has been shown to make hemoglobin and red blood cells remarkably resistant to the damaging effects of free radicals:

Study Link - The effect of copper supplementation on red blood cell oxidizability and plasma antioxidants in middle-aged healthy volunteers.

(Note: Conversely, iron, because it depletes vitamin E, and causes oxidative damage to the unsaturated lipids in the cells, has actually been suspected of worsening hemolytic anemia – the type of anemia which results from the destruction of red blood cells.)

Also unlike iron, our body does possess a mechanism to rid itself of excess copper – probably making copper relatively safe in the long-run.

It’s interesting to note that copper is also an essential component of melanin, the pigment found in both skin and hair which gives each their characteristic color. Iron can displace copper in melanin which can lead to the premature graying of hair. Many people, including eminent researchers, have reported the reversal of gray hair back to its original youthful color by reducing the level of iron in the diet, and simultaneously increasing the level of copper.

The synthesis of collagen and elastin; two substances which make up the connective tissue of tendons, ligaments, skin, and blood vessels, is also dependent upon copper. Iron has been shown to displace copper in connective tissue, triggering inflammation and oxidative damage. The common use of copper supplements (and even copper bracelets) in arthritis may be due to this mineral’s role in the production of healthy joint tissue, and also to copper’s well-known anti-inflammatory effects.

So, while iron has been promoted for decades as the nutrient responsible for healthy red blood, these health-promoting and anti-aging effects of copper haven’t been so widely promoted. The scientific literature makes it very clear, however, that copper-rich foods should always be part of any blood-building, or anti-aging nutritional program.

Sources of Copper

The “textbook” food-sources of copper include foods like oysters and liver – not exactly your standard daily fare in America. But luckily, there are several other copper-containing foods which can be easily incorporated into the diet if we go out of our way to find them.

For those of us looking to reduce our iron intake, a good source of copper without iron is gelatin – an ounce of gelatin powder contains 0.6 milligrams of copper – 30% of the daily value with almost no iron.

Also, containing a bit more iron, but still an excellent source of copper is cocoa or dark chocolate – traditional foods often maligned but which are now being seen as possessing a wide variety of health benefits – especially for cardiovascular health.

And blackstrap molasses, a health food staple for decades, contains high amounts of many minerals including both iron and copper. If the previously mentioned protective measures are taken (i.e. the use of probiotics, soluble fiber, whey protein isolate) unsulphured blackstrap molasses would probably be an excellent choice for vegetarians and vegans looking to supplement with iron. The fact that blackstrap molasses is a well-known home remedy for reversing gray hair probably indicates that the copper it contains is able to balance out the iron properly.

But don’t get the impression that you can load up on copper without consequence – you can’t. Excess copper can increase free radical damage and oxidative stress just like excess iron can. Testing for copper status is far from an exact science, but the researchers in the above referenced study found no increases in oxidative stress at copper intakes of 7 mg per day which is 350% of the RDA. The safety of such a high dose probably gives us a reasonable amount of breathing room before we have to actually worry about excess copper; but still, as with all things, balance and moderation are the keys.

(Note: Two very common nutritional supplements, Zinc and Vitamin C are both known to inhibit copper absorption. Properly formulated zinc supplements should always contain copper, and those taking vitamin C should take it separate from copper-containing foods.)

So, we’ve seen that some nutritional components like, whey protein, soluble fiber and probiotics can protect us from iron-induced damage; and that some nutrients like vitamins A and B, copper and lactoferrin can help us to utilize iron more efficiently. But no solution to the puzzle of iron would be complete without recognizing that some nutrients – nutrients which are perfectly harmless on their own - may actually exacerbate iron’s toxic effects.

Warning: Vitamin C and Iron Are A Dangerous Combination

Since the early 1970’s, when renowned chemist and two-time Nobel laureate Linus Pauling began recommending high-dose vitamin C supplements to cure the common cold, this nutrient has been almost synonymous in the public’s mind with proper immune function and overall health. And even though the vitamin may never live up to Pauling’s initial claims of treating disease (remember, nutrients never work in isolation – only in synergy with one another), subsequent research has shown that vitamin C, in doses much higher than those needed to prevent deficiency, may indeed be able to offer significant antioxidant and general-health benefits. Used by millions of people daily – especially at the first signs of an encroaching cold or flu - vitamin C has established itself firmly as one of nutrition’s “good guys.”

But, in nutrition, even the good guys aren’t good all of the time.

Vitamin C and iron, when consumed together (or when present in the same food or multi-vitamin) can stimulate the production of a harmful free-radical chemical known as a hydroxyl radical – one of the most destructive free radicals known to science.

Of course, relatively few people know this, and it’s not uncommon for the average supplement-taker to throw down a handful of pills first-thing in the morning without the slightest consideration of how all of those nutrients may interact with one another.

But it gets worse. Fitness magazines (and even many physicians and nutritionists) often specifically recommend that iron supplements be taken with vitamin C to “improve iron absorption.”

And in a sense, they’re right - vitamin C taken with iron does improve iron absorption – by turning your gut into Swiss cheese. Vitamin C becomes a “pro-oxidant” in the presence of iron, and when taken together, iron and vitamin C cause so much oxidative damage that the pair can basically burn holes right through your gastrointestinal tract. The duo can cause ulcerations to form in the intestines of healthy people, they can exacerbate existing inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders like Crohn’s disease and colitis, and they can even cause cancer.

Want proof? Check out the study linked below, and its references. If you still think that such nutrient interactions are “no big deal”, or that you’re not putting your health at risk by blindly trusting physicians, nutritional experts, and food producers; you could be in for quite an eye-opening experience.

Study Link - Iron supplements: the quick fix with long-term consequences.

Quote from the above study:

Co-supplementation of ferrous salts [iron] with vitamin C exacerbates oxidative stress in the gastrointestinal tract leading to ulceration in healthy individuals, exacerbation of chronic gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases and can lead to cancer.

Space doesn’t permit to list even a fraction of the studies showing how harmful the combination of iron and vitamin C can be, but the two nutrients are so commonly added to such a wide range of foods and supplements, that we have to show you a few more studies just to make the point crystal clear.

Canadian researchers have shown that when vitamin C is present with iron in infant formula, the formula offers significantly less antioxidant protection than mother’s milk.

Study Link - Milk from mothers of both premature and full-term infants provides better antioxidant protection than does infant formula.

Quote from the above study:

Ferrous sulfate [iron] plus vitamin C added to human milk and formulas fortified with iron increased oxidative stress. Addition of iron chelators to formula reduced oxidative stress. In conclusion, human milk has better antioxidant protection than do formulas, perhaps because of the higher iron content of formulas.

And the following study shows clearly that the Vitamin C included in infant formulas and baby foods to improve iron absorption, interacts with iron to produce the aforementioned hydroxyl radical in the product itself:

Study Link - Ascorbic acid enhances hydroxyl radical formation in iron-fortified infant cereals and infant formulas.

Quote from the above study:

Ascorbic acid [vitamin C] is considered to be an antioxidant in vivo, but has pro-oxidant effects when exposed to non-protein-bound iron.

And, as if that weren’t enough, the combination of iron and vitamin C cause such massive gastrointestinal damage, that Japanese researchers actually use the nutrient combo to induce ulcers in laboratory animals.

Study Link - A new gastric ulcer model in rats produced by ferrous iron and ascorbic acid injection.

Quote from the above study:

We developed a new gastric ulcer model in which the ulcers are induced by the local injection of a ferrous iron and ascorbic acid [vitamin C] (Fe/ASA) solution into the gastric wall. These ulcers resemble human gastric ulcers that penetrate the muscularis mucosa.

Think for a moment about the increasing prevalence of digestive and digestion-related disorders in this country - conditions like ulcers, acid reflux, irritable bowel, Crohn’s disease, colitis, diverticular disease, colon cancer, celiac disease, and food allergies. Then think for a moment about the many common foods which are fortified with both iron and Vitamin C. Then read the above linked studies and ask yourself if there just may be more of a connection between the two than is commonly suspected.

The Food Giants – Rule With An Iron Fist

You would think that fear of litigation, not to mention common human decency, would force food manufacturers to address the puzzle of iron instead of simply sticking their heads in the sand.

You would think that the studies linked in this article, published and available for the world to see, would send baby food formulators scurrying to their laboratory benches to fix the problem.

You would think that breakfast cereal manufacturers would reformulate their products to minimize iron’s harmful effects (and don’t forget, if your cereal is loaded with iron, that glass of vitamin C-rich orange juice you have with breakfast may not be quite as much a part of a “balanced diet” as you’ve been led to believe).

You would think that all multivitamin producers would exclude iron from their formulas – especially if formulas contained high amounts of vitamin C.

And you would certainly think that the nutritional supplements industry, especially the producers of meal replacement drinks and powders, would simply exclude iron from the vitamin and mineral blends they use in their formulas.

But sadly, the relevant nutritional research which could be used to protect our health continues to be ignored at every level in the production of food and supplements – as it stands now, it’s much more profitable for these companies to create a virtuous image through advertising, public relations, and political lobbying, than it is to actually create quality, nutritious products.

Need more proof?

Remember lactoferrin, the iron-binding protein found in whey? Studies have shown that the simple addition of lactoferrin is able to greatly inhibit the iron-induced oxidation of lipids which occurs in infant formulas.

Study Link - Lactoferrin in infant formulas: effect on oxidation.

Quote from the above study:

Lactoferrin inhibited oxidation in a concentration-dependent manner even at concentrations beyond its capacity to bind iron at its two high affinity binding sites. Lactoferrin can be used, therefore, as a dual purpose additive in infant formulas and similar food products for its antioxidant and its antimicrobial properties.

But even though lactoferrin was OK’d for general use by the United States FDA in 2001, good luck finding lactoferrin-containing infant formulas or foods in the US.

In Asia, lactoferrin is commonly added to a variety of foods, including infant formulas, to protect against iron-induced oxidation. But in the US, sources of lactoferrin are almost impossible to come by outside of whey protein isolate and isolated lactoferrin supplements - just another example of how our food in this country continues to lag decades behind the actual science.

The Puzzle Of Iron Almost Solved

With what you now know about iron, think for a moment about the scientific arrogance often exhibited by the food and nutritional supplement industries. These industries are guided by the belief that they can not only mimic nature’s design, but that they can improve upon it - all the while conveniently ignoring any parts of the design which don’t lead to profitable products. Over the years, the producers of processed foods and infant formulas have been wrong more often than they’ve been right. Their experiments (experiments conducted not only in the laboratory, but upon the public at large) have been marred by folly after folly. And yet, when the harmful nature of their practices becomes too overwhelmingly evident for even the general public to ignore, these industries reluctantly embrace each new development and spin it as the latest “advancement” in nutritional science. In reality, these “advancements” are more of an admission that they still don’t have a clue what they’re doing even after decades of feeding the American people from the cradle to the grave.

Their comedy of errors seems all the more baffling when you realize that Nature solved the puzzle of iron eons ago - by protecting the gastrointestinal tract with beneficial organisms, and by supplying precise amounts of protein, vitamins, and minerals in synergy with iron. If we are to protect ourselves from iron’s wrath today, these are the nutritional tools we should seek out as well.

With what we’ve covered here, the lion’s share of the puzzle of iron is solved – but we’re not quite done yet. As we’ve mentioned previously, it seems that our body doesn’t possess efficient mechanisms for ridding our body of iron once it’s absorbed. This causes iron levels to steadily increase in our body over a lifetime.

To reduce iron’s relentless assault on our cells, many of us may want to take steps to actively reduce our bodies’ burden of unneeded iron. In the next installment of the Integrated Supplements Newsletter, we’ll show you foods, supplements, and lifestyle choices which may be able to rid our bodies of some of the iron we’ve accumulated over a lifetime – thus finally solving once and for all, the puzzle of iron.

About Us: At Integrated Supplements, our goal is to bring you the wellness information and products you need to live your life to the fullest. We are dedicated to producing the highest quality, all natural nutritional supplements; and to educating the world on the health promoting power of proper nutrition. You can find out more by visiting: www.IntegratedSupplements.com