Appendix: The Men Who Discovered the Iron Connection

The work of a number of scientists and doctors has been important in the discovery and elucidation of the connection between iron and disease. We would know far less about iron and health were it not for their contributions. Following are a few of the most important of these doctors and scientists.

Jerome L. Sullivan, M.D., PhD

Pride of place must go to the late Dr. Jerome Sullivan, a physician and pathologist, who first conceived the iron hypothesis of heart disease. He had been “puzzled” by the fact that men have much higher rates of heart disease than women, and why the rates for women increased after menopause. Until then, and to an extent even now, it was thought that the difference in sex hormones between men and women, and between pre- and post-menopausal women, was the reason.

In 1981, Dr. Sullivan published a seminal paper, “Iron and the sex difference in heart disease risk” in the medical journal The Lancet. This paper has been cited by other scientists 759 times as of this writing, and it greatly changed thinking on both iron and heart disease.

Dr. Sullivan went on to write many more scientific papers (86, according to Google Scholar). He lived in Florida and died in 2013.

Francesco Facchini, M.D.

Dr. Francesco Facchini is a doctor at the University of California, San Francisco, and he made the connection between iron and insulin resistance. He has done several studies in which patients or volunteers had their iron lowered, either through phlebotomy or diet.

Dr. Facchini's publications include:

Effect of iron depletion in carbohydrate-intolerant patients with clinical evidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (2002)

Low iron status and enhanced insulin sensitivity in lacto-ovo vegetarians (2001)

A low-iron-available, polyphenol-enriched, carbohydrate-restricted diet to slow progression of diabetic nephropathy (2003)

Effect of iron depletion on cardiovascular risk factors (2002)

Near-iron deficiency-induced remission of gouty arthritis (2003)

Eugene D. Weinberg, PhD

Dr. Eugene Weinberg is a microbiologist who spent his career at the University of Indiana studying the biological actions of iron and other trace metals, and he's written extensively on the dangers of excessive iron. He is the author of over 140 scientific papers. He is now retired.

Among Dr. Weinberg's publications:

Iron availability and infection (2009)

Iron loading: a risk factor for osteoporosis (2006)

The hazards of iron loading (2010)

The role of iron in cancer (1996)

Leo R. Zacharski, M.D.

Dr. Leo Zacharski is Professor of Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, and manages an iron overload clinic at the Hitchcock Hospital, Lebanon, NH. He's done important work on the toxicity of ambient levels of body iron stores, and has conducted clinical trials of lowering iron.

Among Dr. Zacharski's publications:

Reducing iron stores lowers cancer risk in patients with peripheral arterial disease (2007)

Reduction of Iron Stores and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease (2007)

Association of age, sex, and race with body iron stores in adults: analysis of NHANES III data (2000)

Getting the iron out: Phlebotomy for Alzheimer's disease? (2009)

Luca Mascitelli, M.D.

Dr. Luca Mascitelli is both a physician and an officer in the Italian Army. In the course of my research on iron and health, I came across numerous articles and letters by him on this topic. He has been tireless in drawing attention to the hazards of iron regarding many medical conditions.

Several of his publications were co-authored with the late Dr. Jerome Sullivan.

Among Dr. Mascitelli's publications:

Explaining sex difference in coronary heart disease: is it time to shift from the oestrogen hypothesis to the iron hypothesis? (2011)

Inhibition of Iron Absorption by Coffee and the Reduced Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (2007)

Aspirin-associated iron loss as an anticancer mechanism (2010)

Is the Beneficial Antioxidant Effect of Olive Oil Mediated by Interaction of its Phenolic Constituents and Iron? (2010)

The Mediterranean Diet and Body Iron Stores (2014)

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following people for their help and support.

Eugene D. Weinberg, PhD, for granting an interview and for writing a preface.

Lt. Colonel Luca Mascitelli, M.D., for correspondence, supplying me with his (paywalled) articles and for writing a recommendation of this book.

Leo Zacharski, M.D., who went way above and beyond my expectations in his help and enthusiasm for this book.

Jay Campbell, physique trainer and testosterone therapy advocate extraordinaire, of FabFitOver40.com, for his support.

David Goodman, of TheSurvivalGardener.com, for suggesting the title, designing the cover, and for sharing his book-marketing expertise.

My readers and Twitter followers, who have been a tremendous source of goodwill and support.

And of course, Michele.