IRON FOR MEN? THE CONTROVERSY
Men need Iron too: 15 mg - 30 mg (up to 75 mg is safe). Certainly, all the experts agree that women (30 mg) tend to need more Iron than men (15 mg), Yes; but Men still need some Iron (taller people may need more?).
Some people have told me that Men should not consume Iron, but I have heard different.
This page was started Sept 18th 2008, after a woman standing in line behind me started insisting that men do not need Iron, after seeing Iron with my groceries, then she said, unless I was going thru chemo therapy (no, no chemo here). I told her that men need Iron too, and it says so in the MERCK MANUAL (standard medical reference) and as per Dr Shari Lieberman’s "Real Vitamin and Mineral Book".
When I got home, I searched thru my private library and found the controversy
Idiot’s Guide to Vitamins and Minerals by Pressman says “Warning! About 1.5 million Americans (mostly men) have a rare inherited condition called hemochromatosis that makes them build up too much iron. The extra iron can cause serious heart and liver problems. If you have this condition, you need to avoid Iron” unquote.
This book was copyrighted in 1997 and the 1990 Census reported around 250 million Americans (safe to assume we are talking about the USA only, not Mexico, Canada A, nor South America). So that’s calculates to around 0.6 % of the population, or around 1.2 % of men. As the quote says, the condition is hereditary and rare (thus most people growing up, probably know about it already, because their family had it already)
THE MERCK MANUAL Home Edition: says the Adult Daily Requirement for Iron is 12 mg. It also says that "Iron deficiency is the worlds most common nutritional deficiency in the world..."
THE MERCK MANUAL Home Edition: also says about IRON EXCESS and hemochromatosis (typically from excessive amounts or for too long, or several blood transfusions, or has chronic alcoholism), that the condition is potentially fatal but is easily treatable and affects over 1 million Americans, and the symptoms typically don't show till middle age, (bronze color skin, cirrhosis, liver cancer, diabetes, and heart failure leading to premature death).
Note: your body absorbs around 20% of the Iron you consume.
MORE LATER
WIKIPEDIA on HAEMOCHROMATOSIS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haemochromatosis
Where WIKIPEDIA says Haemochromatosis is more common in people from the British Isles who already have disease which require frequent blood transfusions. This gene is closely linked to the HLA-A3 locus. Homozygosity for the C282Y mutation is the most common genotype responsible for clinical iron accumulation, though heterozygosity for C282Y/H63D mutations, so-called compound heterozygotes, results in clinically evident iron overload.
OPTIMUM DAILY INTAKE: Shari Lieberman says that hemochromatosis is present from birth (genetic disorder) and can easily be diagnosed from testing, but who gets tested for this? Everyone? I think I recall being tested by Dr Stuart Knox at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical as a kid (and his daughter Dr Rozella S Knox in Glendale CA), I remember everyone telling me Iron was OK for me, but one without the inheritance can acquire the disease thru transfusions. Shari Lieberman (who pioneered ODI: Optimum Daily Intake) says that for most people, up to 75 mg / day of Iron is safe. She also says the body absorbs less or more, depending upon what you currently need (those who are deficient, absorb more). I had already researched this myself, and determined 50 mg to be safe, then I found Shari Lieberman’s confirmation on up to 75 mg (while I am plugging Shari Lieberman, in addition to the “Real Vitamin and Mineral Book” (Optimum Daily Intake) see her Optimum vitamin levels at my VITAMIN page http://www.archure.net/salus/vitamins.html, she has now published the handy dandy easy to use GLYCEMIC INDEX of FOODS http://www.amazon.com/Transitions-Lifestyle-System-Glycemic-Systems/dp/0757002455/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b I am appaulted that its hard to find on the net, its one of the Best Books of the New Age. Her “Glycemic Index of Food Guide” provids a much greater comprehensive list of glycemic listings of foods, than I had posted at http://www.archure.net/salus/sugar.html which I got by spending and hour or so making photo copies of books from the Las Vegas Charleston Library's special Medical Library, years ago
www.ARCHURE.net