re: Extra Iron Proven to Cause Diabetes

GregB — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:12:23 GMT

While excess iron is a more frequent problem, it should be noted that a LOW ferritin can cause equally troublesome problems.

I know. My ferritin has been consistantly low, below 20, and I'm a male. I am, however, a semi-vegetarian, and don't eat many iron-fortified foods.

I've found that many of my unexplainable symptoms can be due to low iron stores.

All I'm saying is that you should have your ferritin in the reasonable range, not too high or too low. My recent measurements have been 14 and 17, and these are clearly too low. 109 seems too high, since it increases risk of diabetes in women, but 80 seems OK.

It has also been shown that a ferritin level below 60 can cause hair loss.

So, from all I've read, optimal ferritin is somewhere above 60 but below 109.