Phytic Acid or IP6 for Iron Overload-Hemochromatosis

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends:

As you likely know from sad experience, getting adequate testing can be near

impossible, especially adequate testing of iron stores and of the thyroid.

This information may be of value, for a number of kids with autism do have iron

overload as well as copper and heavy metals overload. Here is the skinny from

Dr. Mercola. A very detailed, possibly life-saving bit of information to have.

Love,

Willis

Hepatitis C or Iron Toxicity?

By ph Mercola, D.O.

I recently had a patient visit me from Ohio with a remarkable story that

needs to be shared, as it will likely save a number of people’s lives.

This person is a 53-year-old healthy male who had absolutely no symptoms. He

was the picture of health and from looking at him you would never believe he

had any health problems. However, later we wound find out that he was rusting

on the inside and had massive amounts of free radical damage.

Through a routine physical examination, his local traditional doctor found

that he had elevated liver enzymes. So a hepatitis panel was drawn and he was

found to have hepatitis C. He was not content with the traditional

recommendations of going on Interferon as a treatment, so he visited my Web site

and

learned that high iron levels are frequently a major factor in most cases of

hepatitis. This is where the story gets interesting.

He asked the doctors to check his iron level, but they basically laughed at

him and refused until he persisted. The doctors ran a serum iron level and that

came back only on the high side of normal. However, he had read my article on

how to properly diagnose iron overload so he further insisted that they run

the correct test to screen for iron overload, which was a serum ferritin level.

This came back elevated, but they still refused to consider that this was

contributing to his problem.

It’s not bad enough to be ignorant, which the vast majority of traditional

medical doctors are, but they don’t have a clue about the real cause of

disease.

Instead, they focus their energy on diagnosing symptoms and then learning all

about Band-Aid drug and surgical solutions.

The factor that annoys me more and more is that most of them compound their

ignorance with arrogance. This is a potentially lethal combination for the

patient. The doctors refuse to consider any other options outside of those their

limited perspective allows them to see.

That is exactly what happened here, and if this person had relied on and

trusted their recommendations he would likely be dead in a few short years with

the “convenient†diagnosis of hepatitis C, rather than the correct diagnosis

of

death due to doctor ignorance.

Doctors are the leading cause of death in this country because of their

documented mistakes, but believe me, that is only the tiniest tip of the

iceberg.

They are responsible for far more deaths from their ignorance of basic

concepts. Iron overload is certainly one of them, but a lack of appreciation of

the

influence of insulin on health is another.

When I finally drew this man’s ferritin level in my office it was 1000--the

second highest I have ever seen. A good number is 50. Anything above 100 should

be treated, and anything above 300 to 400 is normally considered to be a

problem by traditional doctors. So let me provide further expansion on the

relationship between hepatitis C and iron toxicity.

First it is important to gain some perspective on hepatitis C. One study on

the costs of hepatitis C provides a proper perspective, which I list below. You

can also review the CDC’s hepatitis C information for further information.

Cost & Incidence of Hepatitis C Infection

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) cost the United States about $5.46 billion in 1997.

The estimate puts the cost of HCV on par with the national costs of asthma and

rheumatoid arthritis, two other chronic disorders.

The hepatitis C virus causes inflammation of the liver and is the most common

chronic blood-borne infection in the United States. The virus can be spread

by sex with an infected person, transfusion of infected blood or contaminated

needles. HCV is the most common cause of liver transplantation in the United

States, the study notes.

The investigators, from the University of California at Medical Center

in Sacramento, believe that the cost of HCV infection justifies requests for

increased funding to expand efforts directed at prevention, screening,

treatment and research.

Although HCV infection is not as costly as HIV infection, which in 1992 was

estimated to cost $30 billion, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

estimates that:

HCV-related mortality could triple within the next 10 to 20 years.

According to the report, HCV infection that results in chronic liver disease

accounts for about 92 percent of the costs while infection that leads to

primary liver cancer accounts for the remaining eight percent of costs.

How to Properly Diagnose Iron Overload

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.

Iron has been known to be associated with infection for 30 years.[1] [2] [3]

It appears that iron chelators have great potential to become an important

tool for fighting bacterial and viral infections.[4] When excess iron is

present,

the body’s normal antibacterial mechanisms become severely compromised.[5]

[6] [7]

I am certain that high iron levels are what contributed to this person coming

down with hepatitis C. Was the solution for him interferon? Absolutely not.

The interferon itself may have killed him. It in no way, shape or form

addressed the problem of excess iron, which was causing severe damage in his

liver and

creating massive amounts of free radicals.

Treatment for Iron Toxicity

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.

However, simply measuring serum iron, as I said earlier, is a poor way to do

this. 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.

Iron chelators have also been used in the treatment of one of the most common

infections in the world, malaria.[8] Over 200 million people are infected

every year with the malaria parasite, and over 1 million die from the infection.

IP6 was used over 15 years ago to treat malaria,[9] but there is a lack of

recent trials on its use. This may be because IP6 only became commercially

available in 1998.How to Diagnose Iron Overload

By J. Mercola, D.O.

Genetic hemochromatosis is one of the most frequent inborn errors of

metabolism. Hereditary hemochromatosis is the most common inherited

single-gene

disorder in people of northern European descent.[ii]

Most physicians have inadequate knowledge about how to properly diagnosis and

manage hemochromatosis.[iii] The current treatment of hereditary

hemochromatosis consists of performing periodic manual whole blood phlebotomies.

There are

some newer traditionally based alternative treatments called erythroapheresis

(EPH) in which iron depletion was able to reduce ferritin to below 20 µg/

l.[iv]

However, these approaches are inelegant in that they require significant time

to be therapeutically effective and are also quite inconvenient. The use of

naturally derived iron-based chelators like phytic acid (discussed below) is

more rapidly implemented, inexpensive and non-toxic.

Diagnosis of Iron Overload

The most useful laboratory test to ascertain hemochromatosis is measuring

serum iron concentration, total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation

and

serum ferritin. These should be done together.

The transferrin saturation, as a percentage, is calculated from 100 times

serum iron concentration divided by total iron binding capacity. Transferrin

saturation of greater than 50 percent detects most males or females with or

without iron loading, whereas normally it is 20 percent to 50 percent. It has

been

proposed that the screening cutoff point should be 60 percent for males and 50

percent for females.

Other conditions may also elevate serum iron concentration and transferrin

saturation, particularly the recent ingestion of medicinal iron or

iron-fortified vitamin preparations, or oral contraceptives (Table 1).

Therefore, if the

transferrin saturation is elevated, the test should be repeated after

eliminating such confounding variables. Table 1 :: Phenomena Known To Affect

Percent

Transferrin Saturation

Phenomenon Effect

Menstrual cycle

Pre-menstrually, elevated values (SI increased by 10-30%); at menstruation,

low values (SI decreased by 10-30%)

Pregnancy

May elevate SI through increased progesterone; may lower SI through Fe

deficiency

Ingestion of iron (including iron-fortified vitamins)

High values (SI may rise by 300+ mug/dL and transferrin saturation to 75%)

Iron contamination of tube (Vacutainer) or other glassware (phenomenon may be

rare, sporadic, very difficult to prove)

High values (SI 200-300 mug/dL, transferrin saturation of 75-100%)

Iron dextran injection

Very high values (SI may be >500 mug/dL, transferrin saturation 100%,

probably from circulating iron dextran; effect may persist for several weeks)

Hepatitis (including steatohepatitis)

Very high values (SI may exceed 1000 mug/dL through hyperferritinemia from

hepatocyte injury)

Acute inflammation (respiratory infection), abscess, immunization, myocardial

infarction

Low or normal SI; normal or low Tsat

Chronic inflammation or malignancy Low or normal SI; normal or low Tsat

Iron deficiency

Low or normal SI; increased TIBC; low or normal Tsat

Iron overload (hemochromatosis) High SI, high Tsat

Abbreviations:

SI = Serum Iron;TIBC = Total Iron-Binding Capacity; Tsat = Transferrin

Saturation (Percentage).

Table 2 :: Clinical And Laboratory Manifestations Of Hemochromatosis

Symptoms Signs Abnormal Laboratory Findings

None (common)

Alopecia

Increased serum iron concentration

Fatigue

Hyperpigmentation

Serum transferrin saturation >60%

Weakness

Tender, swollen joints

Increased serum ALT or AST transaminase level

Arthralgia

Cardiac arrhythmia

Increased blood glucose level

Abdominal pain

Cardiomegaly

Abnormal glucose tolerance

Impotence

Hepatomegaly

Low serum testosterone level

Amenorrhea

Splenomegaly

Low serum estrogen and progesterone levels

Dyspnea

Pleural effusion

Low FSH and LH levels

Abdominal swelling Ascites Low serum T4 , high TSH level

Weight loss " Spider " telangiectases, Signs of hypothyroidism, Testicular

atrophy

Azoospermia, Thrombocytopenia, Macrocytosis, Electrocardiographic

abnormalities, Echocardiographic abnormalities,

Roentgenographic and imaging abnormalities

Abbreviations:

ALT = Alanine Aminotransferase; AST = Aspartate Aminotransferase. FSH =

Follicle-Stimulating Hormone; LH = Luteinizing Hormone; T4 = Thyroxine; TSH =

Thyrotropin

If the percent transferrin saturation is still elevated, a serum ferritin

assay should be performed. Percent transferrin saturation however, is a more

sensitive and specific test than is determination of the serum ferritin level,

which can be elevated for a variety of reasons listed below.

However, since serum ferritin is an acute-phase reactant, elevated values may

result from chronic disease, such as inflammation (as in rheumatoid

arthritis), or from malignancies. Liver injury from hepatitis or alcohol abuse

also

elevates both the serum iron and the serum ferritin concentrations. High values

of serum ferritin may be observed in Gaucher's disease and in a rare familial

disorder associated with congenital cataracts (the hyperferritinemia-cataract

syndrome), without concomitant excess iron accumulation in the liver or other

organs. Therefore, elevated values of serum ferritin concentration must be

interpreted in the context of the presence or absence of these other

conditions.[v]

When there is marked iron overload, as in advanced hemochromatosis, the serum

ferritin concentration commonly exceeds 500 mug/L and may be >5000 mug/L.

Each 1 mug/L of serum ferritin concentration is roughly equivalent to 120 mug of

iron stores/kg of body weight. A 70 kg person with a serum ferritin

concentration of 3000 mug/g has approximately 17 to 33 grams of storage iron in

ferritin

and hemosiderin. This contrasts with the normal iron stores of about 500 to

800 mg in adult males or about 300 mg in adult women.

In some circumstances however, the relationship between plasma ferritin and

body iron stores is distorted: the plasma ferritin may greatly underestimate

the extent of iron accumulation or may even be normal despite a considerable

increase in body iron in a small number of patients with hereditary

hemochromatosis.[vi]

A serum iron and TIBC or transferrin test, with calculation of the

transferrin saturation, along with a serum ferritin level should be obtained in

the

fasting state. Over 50 percent of patients have transiently elevated serum iron

levels after eating, and thus if the blood sample is not drawn in the fasting

state, the transferrin saturation can be elevated in the absence of increased

iron stores. In addition to the increased serum iron level after meals, there is

a diurnal variation in serum iron concentration as well. For these reasons,

it is recommended that whenever one is trying to establish the diagnosis of

HHC, a fasting patient should have blood drawn for serum iron studies in the

morning.

The combination of an elevated transferrin saturation level and an elevated

ferritin level in an otherwise healthy individual is 93 percent sensitive for

hemochromatosis. Conversely, in someone older than the age of 35 the

combination of a normal ferritin level and a normal transferrin saturation has a

negative predictive accuracy of 97 percent, indicating that there is only a

three

percent chance of missing a diagnosis of hemoochromatosis in a patient of this

age or older who has normal iron studies.[vii]Table 3 :: Hemochromatosis Blood

Values

Serum Normal Hereditary Hemochromatosis

Iron:

(mug/dL) 60-180 180-300

(mumol/L)

11-32 32-54

Transferrin saturation (%) 20-50 55-100

Ferritin:

Males (ng/mL; mug/L) 20-200

300-3000

Females (ng/mL; mug/L) 15-150 250-3000

Unsaturated iron binding capacity is an inexpensive alternative to percent

transferrin saturation for the detection of hereditary hemochromatosis. The

optimum threshold for detection is 143 microg/dL (25.6 micromol/L), giving a

sensitivity of 0.91 and specificity of 0.95. [viii]

References:

Niederau C, Strohmeyer G. Strategies for early diagnosis of

haemochromatosis. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2002 Mar;14(3):217-21

[ii] Brandhagen DJ, Fairbanks VF, Baldus W. Recognition and management of

hereditary hemochromatosis. Am Fam Physician. 2002 Mar 1;65(5):853-60

[iii] Acton RT, Barton JC, Casebeer L, et. Al. Survey of physician knowledge

about hemochromatosis. Genet Med. 2002 May-Jun;4(3):136-41

[iv] Muncunill J, Vaquer P, Galmes A, et al. In hereditary hemochromatosis,

red cell apheresis removes excess iron twice as fast as manual whole blood

phlebotomy. J Clin Apheresis. 2002;17(2):88-92.

[v] Goldman: Cecil Textbook of Medicine, 21st ed., 2000 W. B. Saunders

Company p.1133

[vi] Deugnier YM, Turlin B, LW et al: Differentiation between

heterozygotes and homozygotes in genetic hemochromatosis by means of a

histological

hepatic iron index: a study of 192 cases. Hepatology 17:30, 1993

[vii] Feldman: Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease,

6th ed., 1998 W. B. Saunders Company

[viii] Murtagh LJ, Whiley M, S, et al Unsaturated iron binding

capacity and transferrin saturation are equally reliable in detection of HFE

hemochromatosis. Am J Gastroenterol. 2002 Aug;97(8):2093