Conclusion

The accumulation of iron leads to increased aging and worse health, and is involved in causing many diseases, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, brain disorders, and more.

Taking control of your iron level and ensuring that it doesn't get too high could be one of the most important things you do for your health. It's almost certainly the most important thing that no one ever talks about.

Recognition of the damaging effects of iron is low, even among scientists who study aging and disease, and even among doctors. I hope this book will increase recognition of excess iron as a major source of health risk.

The FDA, the USDA, and other government agencies both American and elsewhere will not be coming to the rescue. Except in cases of gross iron overload, such as in hemochromatosis or a history of multiple transfusions, they don't recognize excess iron as a problem. As pointed out several times in this book, pharmaceutical companies have no incentive to investigate this problem.

The most important issue in excess iron is to prevent iron from rising in the first place. For that to happen, there must be a huge increase in awareness of the problem. If there were more awareness, people would be much more skeptical about iron supplements and iron fortification of foods. They would be aware of the health benefits of blood donation and the use of natural phytochemicals such as curcumin or green tea extract.

Legally mandated iron fortification of foods could be slowly poisoning many people. The purported benefit is to a small fraction of the population, those at risk for iron deficiency. Both Sweden (in 1995) and Denmark (in 1987) banned the fortification of foods with iron, mainly because the risks to the majority far outweighed the benefits to the minority. Denmark does not even allow the importation of iron-fortified breakfast cereals on the grounds that they may be harmful.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the end of iron fortification in the U.S. The food lobbyists are too entrenched and there's little recognition of excess iron as a problem. On the contrary, the only recognition of iron as a problem is in the case of iron deficiency, which affects relatively few. The general opinion among both medical professionals and lay people alike is that you just can't get too much iron, and the more the better.

Therefore, to control your iron, you have to take matters into your own hands. Fortunately, this is readily done, although the rather large fraction of the public who are ineligible to donate blood will have to use slower, less efficient methods to lower their iron. Just don't expect to have your doctor bring all of this to your attention because in all likelihood, he or she will not.

To live into your nineties or beyond, with no cancer or heart disease or other major illness, then you must ensure that your body iron stores are not excessive, and preferably within the ranges discussed in this book. Other aspects of health are important, such as exercise, staying lean, and eating a healthy diet, but if you do all those things and don't control your iron, they could end up being exercises in futility.