Vitamin hemochromatosis

The fourth section deals with various aspects Digestion, Absorption, and Nutritional Biochemistry. The chapter Obesity considers current problems with respect to the ever-increasing incidence of imbalance between energy intake and utilization. Key problems of undemutrition are discussed in the chapters Protein-Energy Malnutrition and Vitamin A Deficiency in Children. The chapters Lactose Intolerance, Pancreatic Insufficiency, and Abetalipoproteinemia focus on the biochemical processes underlying food digestion and absorption. Calcium Deficiency Rickets, Vitamin B12 Deficiency, and Hemochromatosis provide discussions of absorption and utilization of vitamin D, vitamin B12, and iron, respectively. 

Herbay, v.A., de Groot, H., Hegi, U., Stremmel, W., Strohmeyer, G., Sies, H. Low vitamin E content in plasma of patients with alcoholic liver disease, hemochromatosis and Wilson s disease. J. Hepatol. 1994 20 41-46... 

At least three polymorphic genes have been identified that potentially can influence the bioaccumulation and toxicokinetics of lead in humans (1) the gene coding for 6-amino-levulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) (2) the Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene and (3) HFE, the gene for hereditary hemochromatosis (Onalaja et al. 2000). 

Halliwell (22) suggests that the possible in vivo pro-oxidant effects of ascorbate are related to the availability of catalytic transition metal ions. The content of vitamin C in meals increases nonheme iron absorption (24). In patients with iron accumulation diseases such as hemochromatosis or thalassemia, this might lead to increased iron overload and deleterious clinical effects (22). Non-protein-bound iron, as far as it exists in the human body, can induce lipid peroxidation especially if it is present together with the pro-oxidative ascorbic acid (reactions 3 and 5). According to previous reviews (6,24), vitamin C ingestion enhances the iron absorption also in individuals with iron deficiency, but may have a rather small effect in individuals with normal iron status. 

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