Iron is overrated. In Fact, it is dangerous (Here is why)

What if the iron supplements millions of people take every day are actually… dangerous?

Doctors often prescribe iron pills or IVs to fix anemia, fatigue, or brittle hair and nails.

But here’s the scary truth: iron might be fueling serious diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and more.

Don’t believe me?

Try this: search “iron + cancer” or “iron + Alzheimer’s” on Google. You’ll be shocked at what comes up. Study after study shows iron can drive inflammation, aging, and disease in your body.

This phenomenon is called “unregulated iron metabolism”: when your body can’t handle iron properly, it wrecks heavoc.

In this newsletter, we will talk about this hidden pandemic, what it is & give a step by step blueprint on how to leverage this knowledge to increase healthspan.

I’ll show you how copper and zinc work together to control iron—and reveal the surprising role light plays in keeping your iron in check.

Let’s dive in.

Unbalanced Iron Is Your Truck Rusting

Did you ever wonder why stuff rusts?

It is iron reacting with oxygen on metal surfaces. Now, believe it or not, these same properties iron has in these reactions, are used by the body, either in a good or bad way.

When iron goes unchecked, our body literally rusts. The endproduct is no “red” mist on in body, but rather inflammation & destruction of cells.

The special chemical & electrical properties iron, in relation to oxygen, has is what the body uses to carry oxygen. Hemoglobin carries oxygen to the cells.

Can you guess what is lying in the middle of it? It is iron.

So far so good. Let’s get a bit technical, so that you can understand why iron can wreck havoc:

Metals can exist in multiple different redox states. Redox means that there is a different amount of electrons bound to this metal in the specific instance.

Think of a bus (metal) with varying amounts of passengers (electrons) driving differenlty due to weight, safety and so on.

For iron, there are two distinct forms:

Fe2+ = transport form, unstable

Fe3+ = bound to proteins, stable

The latter is what is used in storage (ferritin) & transport proteins (transferrin) to deliver iron from cell to cell.

The Fe2+ form is used as an oxygen carrier in hemoglobin, due to its reactivity with oxygen.

Here is where it gets interesting:

When our body cannot cycle through these forms efficiently, the balance between these two shifts towards free, unbound Fe2+, which happily reacts with all kinds of stuff.

The reaction it partakes is a so called “Fenton reaction”:

This reaction creates hydroxyl radicals which belong to the most reactive radicals we have in our body.

They attaack:

• Membranes

• Proteins

• Cell organelles

• DNA

The latter is interesting, as this is directly causing genetic damage, which might lead to cancer.

All of this creates a vicious cycle of inflammation breeds more inflammation, as our body cannot cope with the overwhelming amounts of radicals produced.

What is even worse, our body needs checked iron for energy production.

Energy is what is needed to stop inflammation. So unchecked iron is directly creating the problem, while also worsening it.

We can notice this through symptoms & conditions like

• CFS

• SIBO

• Cancer

• Fatigue

• Liver Cirrhosis

• Type 2 Diabetes

• Hypothyroidism

• Autoimmune Conditions

The upside of it all:

Our body knows exactly how dangerous iron can be, so it has many checks & balances in place to balance out iron. In modern society we sadly lack many of the nutrients & lifestyle interventions needed to balance iron.

But this is where we will tackle the problem.

Let’s see how we can start balancing iron.

How To Restore Iron Homeostasis: A Blueprint

There are three things we have to do to balance iron:

1. Fill up required micronutrients to balance

2. Restore redox potential of the cell

3. Move iron out of the body

These all ensure that we not only prevent future damage, but also regenerate the damage that has been made so far by unregulated, unchecked iron.

The micronutrient story

It comes to no surprise that when mentioning iron, we have to talk about copper, the first & foremost iron balancing mineral.

The reason is that copper is the mineral needed for coeruloplasmin, which acts like a crane, putting iron where it belongs. 95% of our copper is bound to this single protein!

Without it, iron cannot be put onto transferrin or ferritin for safe transportation & storage. This can also lead to anemia, as our body just lacks bioavailable copper.

So far so good, so just increase copper, right?

The problem is that when we come into contact with copper, we have to talk about zinc, as they act antagonistic to each other.

I learned that the hard way, as my frequent consumption of red muscle meat (high in zinc) without adequate copper intake, let to a dysbalance here, resulting in unregulated iron.

To see wether they are balanced, either use an HTMA test or go for a blood test, where the ratio should roughly be 1:1. This is exactly what I do with coaching clients to see wether they might have iron deficiency problems.

Dietary intake ratio should be between 20-8:1 Zinc:Copper. Depending on your current state, you should adjust the intake accordingly.

The higher your zinc levels in comparison to copper, the lower the ratio should be. But, there seems to be a sweet spot, as 3mg of copper per day might be all thats needed, no matter the zinc intake.

My final advise:

Eat liver 2x a week (or each day in limited amounts) as liver is the copper storage unit. Limit red muscle meats to 2-3x a week, to lower iron & zinc intake overall.

Eating oysters 1-2x a week gives huge boosts in zinc & copper, but be aware that the ratio here is still tilted towards zinc!

If tolerated, legumes & plants in general have more copper in comparison to its zinc content, so only eating muscle meat is a safe bet to ensure iron dysregulation.

A bonus tip:

Eating liver weekly will store up on essential Vitamin A, which most of us lack. It is also needed for coeruloplasmin functioning.

Eat your liver.

But there are also other very important micronutrients for iron metabolism:

• Magnesium to ensure adquate ATP production

• Vit B1/B2/ B3 for redox state of the cell

• even more Vit B2 might also be needed to balance iron induced pathogenic overgrowth

Further more, we need to consider to protect our precious membranes from iron.

This is where we get into the second lever we have to pull:

Increase our own antioxidant system to protect membranes & scavenge unbound iron.

The antioxidant story

A reminder: when iron goes unchecked, the Fenton reaction leads to hydroxyl radicals, which are reactive enough to destroy literally anything & everything.

We should focus on our cell membranes, as these are often at the center of it all. To ensure that they are safe and protected, increase the intake of these:

• Vitamin E through red palm oil (most important)

• Vitamin C (supports Vit E; take it away from high iron foods)

• Taurine & Iodine stabilize and protect the cell membrane (fish & seafood is high)

Adjusting the type of fats you consume also matters a lot. PUFAs from vegetable & seed oils are highly refined and low in the nutrients above, leading to direct lipid peroxidation.

Eat primarly butter, ghee, coconut oil, black seed oil, lard & tallow.

If you eat fish, which I would highly recommend, take a little bit of Vitamin E, to offset potential problems with oxidation.

Glutathione is very important in the whole antixoxidant cycle, just as SOD enzymes.These basically can shift our redox state (the balance between oxidation & reduction) towards a lower inflammatory (often oxidizing) environment.

Here are micronutrients & supplements to increase all of these:

Manganese for MnSOD is an important mitochondrial protector. I was shocked to see that I lacked it, so increasing it through partial supplementation or eating legumes sometimes (prepped ancestrally) is needed.

Selenium is very important for Glutathione & SOD functioning. Eating meat, fish, organs & 1-2 brazil nuts a day is all that is needed. Stay away from supplements to not overconsume on it in an isolated fashion.

Glycine is one, if not the most lacking amino acid of today. It is so important in antioxidant & digestive function, collagen production & even scavenges heavy metals.

If you are not consuming slow cooked meat or bone broth 3-4x a week, I would highly suggest supplementing with collagen/ gelatin or glycine itself. Take 10 grams a day.

Cysteine is another bottleneck for glutathione production, just as glycine. Besides from eating animal based food daily, cycling through NAC as a form of bioavailable cysteine can be a good way to increase glutathione directly.

Seemingly, all of these also support the expression of the enzyme metllothionein, which is there to bind to unbound metals, just like iron. As I told you, our body has many checks & balances in place, to ensure optima functioning of it.

Last but not least, we have to get rid of iron. We have to move it.

So how are we achieving that?

Moving iron

Hemochromatosis is a disease in which our body acumulates toxic iron due to storage & exportation problems. Most often genetic factors contribute to this.

Hence why I’d argue that testing for genetic factors if you consider iron being a potential problem as really valuable.

Some snippets to look for are:

• HFE

• HFE2

• HAMP

• TFR2

• SLC40A1

Within that topic, herein lies the first thing to do:

Blood letting or donating blood quarterly is the best way to get rid of excess iron. If you have genetic disposition this is a MUST. Per 500ml of blood we loose roughly 250mg of iron.

Consider your age, genetic predisposition & blood work as a reference point to adjust the frequency. 1-4 times a year is a good rough spot. For women pre menopause, I would double check with your practicioner as you already loose blood on a consistent basis and often are more prone to lower iron (diet & copper IUD).

Besides blood letting, the strategy we use on a consistent basis is the following:

1. Support liver & bile metabolism

2. Sequench excess iron

3. Remove it

The liver as our primary detoxification organ needs support, so that the iron will get into the gut. Bile sequenches this excess iron or the epithelial cells of the gut lining which store excess iron.

We can support this by focussing on these things:

• Quercetin

• Milk Thistle

• Black Seed Oil

• Digestive Bitters

• Castor Oil Packs

For bile support focus on these nutrients or supplements:

• Glycine

• Taurine

• Vitamin D

• Vitamin C

• TUDCA

• Digestive Bitters

Now, to sequester excess iron there are two really powerful tools we can use:

Lactoferrin, a protein found in milk is a member of the transferrin family, which has a high affinity for iron. Found in colostrum or in limited amounts in raw milks, we can supplement it to not only scavenge unbound iron, but also deprive pathogens of iron which they use to grow.

The next is IP6 or inositol hexaphosphate can naturally be found in plants & legumes, often times called phytic acid. It has a very high affinity towards iron. So strong, that it has been shown that IP6 inhibits cancer growth through this exact mechanism.

We dealed with the primary organs delivering iron to the gut, we dealed with compounds with high affinity for unbound iron, but we miss an important point:

Without binding to this iron or the cells containing the iron in the gut, recirculation will be enhanced. Everything that sits n our intestine for long enough will recirculate through the portal vein system.

Binders step in to provide a “vehicle” for the iron complexes which now leave the body via stool. The gentlest way of removing excess iron is increasing your dietary fiber intake.

Think of a carrot salad a day, vegetables or starches. Fibers are mother natures way of binding to stuff and getting rid of them.

I would start here and see how you feel. After some time, the introduction of more powerful binders like activated charcoal, chlorella or zeolith are all good strategies.

But, go low & slow. If you are getting constipated, lower the amount drastically, increase TUDCA & hyradration. Do lymph drainage and go for more walks & grounding work to increase circulation of fluid in this area.

Sweating is another potent way of lowering iron, as sweating removes a lot of excess heavy metals & minerals. I like the infrared sauna, as the added IR light aids in mitochondrial functioning and seems to improve the balance between copper and iron, as copper loves red light!

That was it for the iron protocol.

Have a great one folks!

If you want a personized precision protocol to break free from your disease, I have coaching spots left. Apply here.