Iron accumulation pancreas

There is a downside to this abundance of iron in the general food supply. Well over a million Americans suffer from an inherited genetic disorder called hemochromatosis, or iron overload disease. Such individuals accumulate excess iron in their bodies. The excess iron causes damage to major organs such as the liver, pancreas, and heart. The disease most often affects men between the ages of 30 and 50. Women with the disorder are often protected from developing all the complications of the disease because of their natural loss of iron through menstruation. However, they do develop some of the complications. 

Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is an inherited disorder of iron metabolism characterised by excessive iron absorption and toxic accumulation of iron in the parenchymal cells of liver, heart, pancreas and other endocrine organs. There are four types of HH known ... 

Aceruloplasminemia Ceruloplasmin (ferroxidase-) deficiency Accumulation of iron Liver, brain, pancreas, eye 3q23-q25 604290... 

A disorder in which (1) the skin has a bronzelike hue, and (2) there is a loss of function of the liver and/or the pancreas. It results from the abnormal accumulation of iron in these tissues due to some unknown disorder of iron metabolism, or to the absorption of a great excess of iron. One of the conditions under which a great excess of iron may be absorbed is the consumption of iron in alcoholic beverages, such as the beer made by the Bantu tribes of Africa. (The Bantu tribes brew their acid beer in iron pots.) Also, iron overload can be caused by high intakes of iron supplements. 

Iron—The worldwide concern over iron-deficiency anemia has often obscured the fact that excesses of dietary iron might sometimes lead to such disorders as toxic accumulations of the mineral in the liver, spleen, pancreas, heart muscle, and kidneys. This overloading of the body with iron, called hemochromatosis, is most likely to occur in adult males who consume liberal amounts of alcohol. Females are less likely to have such an accumulation of iron because they regularly lose significant amounts of the mineral during their menstrual flow, or as a result of pregnancy and childbirth. 

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