While iron is a necessary part of staying healthy, too much iron can be devastating. Aside from the excess iron that can result from iron supplements, iron overload, or hemochromatosis, is actually the most common inherited disease. You can find out all the technical details from reading my article on how to diagnose iron overload below. In hereditary hemochromatosis deposits of iron appear in practically every major organ, particularly the liver, pancreas and heart, resulting in complete and widespread organ failure.

Further, iron has been known to be associated with infection for 30 years. When excess iron is present, the body’s normal antibacterial mechanisms become severely compromised. Excess iron can also create massive amounts of free radicals.

If you were to listen to traditional medicine the only solution for iron overload is to donate a pint of blood every two weeks. This is not a very effective solution and may require many years before it works as up to 50 therapeutic phlebotomies may be necessary.

Measuring iron levels is a very important part of optimizing your health, especially for men and postmenopausal women since excess iron is most common among these groups. However, simply measuring serum iron is a poor way to do this because frequently the serum iron will be normal. The most useful of the indirect measures of iron status in the body is through a measure of the serum ferritin level in conjunction with a total iron binding level.

If you find elevated serum ferritin levels, you do not have to perform therapeutic phlebotomies. A simple extract from rice bran called phytic acid, or IP6, can serve as a very effective form of iron chelation that is non-toxic, inexpensive and can be done without a prescription.

Tsuno Food & Rice Company of Wakayama, Japan is the only manufacturer of IP6 in the world; any brand you purchase would come from this company. Since it is all the same product, the least expensive brand is probably the best one to choose, and Jarrow seems to have the best prices.

Manganese is similar to iron in that it can be harmful at excessive levels. High amounts of manganese down regulates serotonin and dopamine and high levels of manganese are often found in learning disabled or violent individuals. Although it has the potential to create major problems, very little attention is paid to manganese toxicity by the medical community.

Related Articles:

How to Diagnose Iron Overload

What Makes the Body Absorb Too Much Iron?

Is it Hepatitis C or Iron Toxicity?

Women Can Have Too Much Iron

Iron Can Have Devastating Effects on Your Health

The Most Prevalent Inherited Disease - Hemochromatosis