Diets high-iron

MANAGING CONSTIPATION. Constipation may be a problem when a patient is taking oral iron preparations. The nurse instructs the patient to increase fluid intake to 10 to 12 glasses of water per day (if the condition permits), eat a diet high in fiber, and increase activity. An active lifestyle and regular exercise (if condition permits) help to decrease tiie constipating effects of iron. If... 

Iron-deficiency anaemia results from a discrepancy between iron availability and the amount required for production of red blood cells. The causes of acquired iron deficiency in so-called underdeveloped and developed countries must be differentiated. In underdeveloped countries, the main causes of iron deficiency are (a) the poor availability of iron in the diet due to low haem and high fibre and phytate content (D Souza et ah, 1987), and (b) chronic blood loss due to hookworm, schistosomiasis and malaria (Stoltzfus et ah, 1997 Olsen et ah, 1998 Dreyfuss et ah, 2000). Inflammation and vitamin A deficiency often interfere with the above causes of iron deficiency, causing a mixed type of anaemia. In underdeveloped countries diet improvement, iron fortification of natural foods and eradication of parasites will have a much higher impact than will refinement of diagnostic procedures and therapy of iron-deficiency anaemia. 

Yu, S., R.B. Beems, J.A. Joles, G.A. Kaysen, and A.C. Beynen. 1995. Iron and copper metabolism in analbuminaemic rats fed a high-iron diet. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 110A 131-138. 

Iron Overload. An inborn error of metabolism leads to the absorption of excess iron from a normal diet. Hereditary henuiclimmiiunh is found mainly within the w hite population. Black people who live in sub-Saharan Africa, however, show a high incidence of this disorder. At one time, this was attributed to the high content of iron in a home-hrewed beer. Recent studies show that it is a combination of a high-iron diet and hereditary disposition... 

An intake of 25—75 mg Fe d may be safe. Long term iron overload has been noted in South Africa (Bantu siderosis). Ingestion of up to 200 mg Fe d-1 may be the result of eating food cooked in iron pots or drinking Kaffir beer containing 15-120 mg Fe 1 1. Ethiopians have a high iron intake (up to 500 mg d-1), but as siderosis is not common, much of this iron must be unavailable.33 This type of hemosiderosis should be treated by preventative measures to restrict the amount of iron in the diet.48... 

Gastrointestinal absorption, and subsequent utilization and retention by the body, of essential trace elements such as zinc, copper, and selenium can also be enhanced or diminished by the presence or absence of other trace elements and chemicals in the diet (WHO, 1996). For example, cadmium and lead absorption is enhanced when dietetic intake of calcium, iron, and phosphate is low. Phytate, an organic phosphate that is abundant in diets high in unrefined grains, especially when accompanied by high dietetic calcium, helps suppress the uptake of potentially toxic elements such as lead and cadmium, but also inhibits the uptake of essential zinc (WHO, 1996). 

Binding of nutritionally important cations to dietary fiber has recently been introduced as a possible cause for poor utilization by humans of iron from diets high in vegetables and unrefined cereals. Reinhold et al. (J2) and Ismail-Beigi et al. (33) have demonstrated that the fiber component of wheat bread and bran binds iron even after the phytate has been extracted by dilute acid. In our study, the water-insoluble fraction (containing most of the neutral detergent fiber of the bran) of enzymatically dephytinized wheat bran did not inhibit, whereas... 

Rosy, delicate cheeks and beauty of complexion depend upon a high-iron diet, but it has to be ferrous iron, Fe-, to be readily used. The body absorbs this kind of iron, which is found in meat, poultry, and fish, three times more readily than iron from eggs, legumes, and whole grains. Iron in fortified foods may help a little, but not much. We live in an age and a country in which eating habits and lifestyles have led to a widespread epidemic of iron deficiency. Some experts blame this epidemic on the new popularity of lite foods and reduction of meat in the diet. About 60 percent of Americans are short of iron. 

Menstrual losses of blood average 28 milligrams monthly. One in four college-age women are iron deficient, possibly due to ignoring the need for increased iron intake prior to and during menstruation. Diseases that cause iron deficiency are colon cancer, hiatal hernia, ulcers, hemorrhoids, bladder tumor, and diverticulosis. Soft drinks high in phosphates cause iron to be excreted in the urine. Lack of copper or manganese in the diet reduces iron assimilation, as does a deficiency of vitamin C. Oxalic acid foods, such as chard and rhubarb, can block iron intake. 

Wayne Martin further takes up the matter of how high iron content affects the meat-eating population of the United States He notes that a high-iron diet is greatly immunosuppressive, which in turn elevates the risk of cancer. Also, he notes that the African diets previously mentioned contained very little iron, and the same holds true for the Hopi. The conventional medical wisdom would be that such diets would result in iron deficiency anemia. 

Diets high in iron have been shown to suppress manganese absorption, and conversely, iron-poor diets increase manganese uptake (Lonnerdal 1994,1997). Phosphorus (Wedekind et al. 1991) and calcium (Wilgus and Patton 1939) have also been found to decrease manganese uptake. 

Experimentally, however, hepatic iron overload has been described in animals fed high iron content diets. The results closest to humans are from a study in the common marmoset, Callithrix jacus [13]. In a group of seven marmosets fed a high iron content diet for 1 year, four deaths occurred, as opposed to one death in the group fed a low iron diet (Table 13-2). 

Dietary factors other than the type of the iron salt used in the diet also influence iron absorption. Rats on corn diets, high-methionine diets, or ethionine-sup-plemented diets absorb more iron than can be effectively used. 

Pregnant women rarely have sufficient iron stores and consume diets adequate to maintain positive iron balance, particularly in the latter half of pregnancy, as previously discussed. They cannot meet their iron requirements through diet alone even in developed countries, where high iron content diets with high bioavailability are common. 

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