Today i will try to write about the iron and his functions in the human body. 

A. One of the main functions of iron is to transport oxygen, burning off fuels like carbohydrates and fatty acids. The Oxygen is absorbed from the air, through lungs and distributed into the body via red blood cells. This is why not having enough iron is damaging our body long term, as few minutes without oxygen means death, and not having enough oxygen reaching the tissues it is indeed a slow symbolic death. Anaemia is a danger for quite few categories of the population. The red blood cells contain a protein called hemoglobin - with a special molecule called heme, using iron to bind oxygen. Actually the chemical reaction and the chemical formula to show this is for me like poetry, but i will not go there now, as i am sure that not many of us liked organic chemistry in school. You just need to agree with me that the heme molecule is beautiful, and it is keeping us alive, right?

The hemoglobin allows the red blood cells to get the oxygen from the lungs, transport it and release it into the tissue. The muscle also contains oxygen binding protein, similar to hemoglobin, called myoglobin, which can store small amounts of oxygen, but this is a story for another time. 

B. The second role of the iron is to produce energy, breaking down fatty acids and carbohydrates into carbon dioxide, water and energy, in a special part of the cell called mitochondria. Actually, there is one pathway to longevity, using cold water and cold in general, as a vehicle to destroy weak cells with not very efficient mitochondria functions, and in doing it basically you create a better average cell, in all your body, giving you extra energy, up to three times more than usual. Like you are 20 years older all over again. Check Wim Hoff 'The Iceman' and his technique to find more about this method. There is a superior way to what he is doing, called Tummo, a method developed by Buddhist monks, and they can literally dry wet clothes in Himalaya using the Inner Fire, but we are not Buddhist monks and a cold shower is much easier than a life dedicated to enlightenment, so at least this is a good start. Several types on enzymes are needed for this, and many of them contain iron, as a heme group or as an iron-sulphur cluster. 

What you need to remember? Without enough iron, we will struggle to deliver enough oxygen to the tissues and to break down fuels like fatty acids or carbohydrates inside our cells. 

Now, let's see the iron effect of health. Anaemia is a chronic iron deficiency leading to low concentration of blood cells and/or hemoglobin in the blood. Anaemia can have different origins and different features. It can be a consequence of a disease like renal failure or endocrine disorder, can be also related to a deficiency of a specific nutrient (folic acid, B12 or iron). As you may think, iron deficiency is the main cause of anaemia. To diagnose the origin, the shape, size and color of the red blood cell is observed. Normally, if you are anaemic, the red blood cell will be either smaller (microcytic) or with a pale color (hypochromic). 

Effects of anaemia - fatigue, weakness, low physical endurance (due to less oxygen reaching the tissues). Iron deficiency also leads to reduced cognitive performance and low immunity (reduced quality of life and work productivity - and this is one of the reason why governments promote iron added to white bread or white flour). 

Anaemia is caused by diet poor in bioavailable iron, can be related to excessive bleeding (menstruation), pregnancy, giving birth, having a vegan/vegetarian diet and in rare cases due to a parasitic worms infection (causing internal bleeding).

Next post will be about Iodine. 

Yours truly, 

George

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