Uncovering the Impact of Iron on Health: Deficiency, Overload, and Smart Supplementation

Ever wonder why, despite eating your greens and proteins, you still feel sluggish and not quite right? Join me, Damaris Maria Grossman, as I peel back the layers on iron's crucial role in our health, exposing how unseen adversaries like environmental toxins and infections can compromise our iron levels. You're promised a guided tour through the intricacies of heme and non-heme iron – the heroes in our blood – and how their absorption can be affected by our lifestyle choices. From the needs of a growing teenager to the demands of pregnancy, we'll navigate the varying requirements for iron and share a plateful of knowledge on how to source it, whether you're a carnivore, herbivore, or somewhere in between.

But it's not just about what lands on your fork. In this heart-to-heart, we'll unravel the mystery of fatigue and other symptoms that may point to an underlying iron deficiency or even overload. With a compassionate touch, I share my personal experiences with iron bisglycinate, a supplement that's been a game-changer for me, especially when taken with a dash of vitamin C. We'll discuss why individualized care is essential, and I'll pass on the tools and support you need to take charge of your gut health, ensuring that the iron you consume truly benefits your body. So, if you're ready to boost your vitality and embrace a more energized lifestyle, tune in and let's get to the heart of iron's impact on our well-being.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:53

Hi, how are you? So this is Damaris Maria Grossman, mindfully Integrative, and we're talking about iron. So I'm going to be having a series of different vitamins and things that are important for your body, and how can you get these different sources of vitamins and minerals to make it, instead of just taking a supplement? Which supplements are options? Because, unfortunately, our body and today's foods are not giving us the amount of nutritional value that we need every day. I love to say that we are, but we're just not. We're not getting what we need on a daily basis to be at our optimal self. It would be awesome if we were. You know if you're making your soups and you know doing any inflammatory protocols Awesome. And you know doing anti-inflammatory protocols awesome.

Speaker 1: 1:35

But also, sometimes, even if you are eating really, really well, that does not mean that there aren't things that are underlying that could be toxins from exposures, environmental toxins, obesity, adaptogen exposures. That could also be infections, mold, parasites. I mean, there are an array of things that you can have been exposed to at some point that needs to be kind of cleaned out into your body Recently and pretty common iron either iron deficiency or iron access in individuals is important, and just because you're a vegetarian does not mean that you can't get iron in your body. So there's heme and non-heme, and heme iron is more in the animal protein and non-heme iron is found in both plants and animals and you can get a quality amount of dietary iron. I fluctuate in my iron availability depending upon how well my gut biome is, or predatory, or maybe if I've been exposed to something or metal or mold or parasitic exposures. Anyone can have a fluctuation and usually iron deficient has some sort of an infection or parasitic or mold toxicity or environmental toxicity or environmental toxicity that may have been triggered. So individuals would benefit from obviously more iron in their diet.

Speaker 1: 3:07

So women in the range of like after puberty, younger, could range anywhere between like they would need around 20 milligrams or 18 to 20 milligrams of iron, and then as they become 20 to you know the 50 range before geriatrics you could get in about 20 grams. So over the age of 50 or 60, you know your ranging needs are around a lot less. It's around about 10. And then if you're pregnant, obviously you have a baby to take care of, so your body is going to absorb and need that amount of iron throughout. To. You know transport that oxygen significantly. So it'll need almost double for where you're at. So you've got 20, you know, not too like about 30, 30. And if you're, if you're lactating, think in the range of another eight milligrams. For men, they don't need as much as we do. Women usually are more in need because of menstruation. We lose more blood. You know our monthly cycles and irregularities. Also, for individuals that have had any sort of endometriosis, pcos, inflammatory problems and they've had intermittent bleedings, they're also going to need more iron. If they've had cancer or previous illnesses, sometimes that will also be a factor in when you need more iron iron to help bring more oxygen throughout the body and causing because it is a very common nutritional deficiency that can affect many of us.

Speaker 1: 4:48

And how do you get this resource? Where does it come from? Yes, you can get it from meats. Most. Everyone know you can get it from red meat, from different uh options like that. But you know there's other ways to get uh, this quality amount of iron. And how do we do that? You know you can get it, obviously from organ meats.

Speaker 1: 5:12

Now I've tried to do organ meats. I try to do them um, it's called offal, um giblets, that. I'm not vegetarian but I do eat intermittent meat so I found that for me. I'm not great with red meat but I do know that it has the most nutrient dense amount of iron and nutritional value. I will try to take small bits of it into like a turkey chili. Take small bits of it into like a turkey chili my husband's very good at ordering and making that and getting a nice quality grass-fed organ meat blend. I have a little bit harder time digesting so I can only do small amounts or I have to do a bone broth with the offal.

Speaker 1: 5:54

Breakfast cereals have fortification but I'm not a big fan of them because I feel like they're fortified and sometimes it's just a bunch of junk. I'd rather you find it in other areas like tofu, mussels, beans, lentils I love lentils for iron, saurice, spinach, any cruciferous vegetables, kidney beans, clams, pumpkin seeds, things of that nature, because that'll be helpful for you. Apricots, of course. Spinach is always good. Now, not everybody is able to get the heme iron because that's always from the seafood and the meat and the organ meats and of that nature especially because if you're plant based you know there is still nuts and dried fruit and legumes and you know they have like the iron fortified cereals like I spoke of, but not my fan of that, I'd rather you do a like a collagen plant based powder with that, and then then it's just a matter of what kind and how much do you need.

Speaker 1: 6:57

So, as a child, children need iron. They need around 11 grams. As you older kids, they need nine, anywhere between nine to 12 milligrams for children. Like I said, for adults it ranges anywhere between like around 18 for females and 10 for males, and then, as you get older, pregnant women will need around 27, 27, 30 milligrams and for the males they only need around 15. So it's like just trying to improve that.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Now, ways that you can improve an iron absorption and people don't realize is that you can have. You really need a lot of vitamin C. And why do we need vitamin C? Vitamin C helps absorb the iron into the body and kind of bring it to where it needs to go, so that we get more oxygen circulating. Now, citrus fruits you can use, you know, tomatoes, berries, melons, things of that nature, even like capsaicin. It's a vasodilator or magnesium that will help you absorb those wonderful things.

Speaker 1: 8:05

Now, things that reduce iron supplementation and I'm guilty of this, I drink too much coffee. That's my advice. I don't drink good old smoke but I do have a little bit more coffee than I probably need in my morning. Drinking can also be a factor If you have too much calcium. So you wouldn't take, you wouldn't do milk and iron together. They actually will hinder each other. So it's always good like an orange juice, citrus fruits with your iron and that would be very helpful, you know.

Speaker 1: 8:35

And then there's those individuals that have too much iron. There's about one in like 250 individuals that it's called hemochromatosis. When the person is absorbing too much iron Instead of an iron deficiency, then they're having iron overload. And when you have iron overload, usually that has to do because you've had a toxic exposure, pesticide exposure, environmental exposure, or it's a genetic exposure from a family and there's usually a GI component where the patient has a microbiome malabsorption or deficiency there. That if you can help with the brush border openings and get that dysbiosis connected back and get a little bit back with the malabsorption or inflammation has been changed, then you can really get that to be better. So you know there is hope there. You know it's not just one thing, iron deficiency and iron overload, it's just understanding why you know you have that micronutrient deficiency for yourself and how do you, you know, fix that?

Speaker 1: 9:46

I think everyone is a little bit different, but you know the common symptoms. For those that do have it, it's like they're fatigued, they're tired, things of that nature. Those that are of like overload, they may find themselves also fatigued. So they just need a little bit difference. Obviously, they don't need iron. They need it to be taken away. So they make a chelation therapy. When you look at individuals that are iron deficient, they usually have paler skin under eye circles, headaches, sometimes maybe brittle nails and their microbiome is disrupted, and then also an overload. Also their microbiome is disrupted. So there's different manifestations of either one, but it's good to kind of have an idea. And how do you fix it? How do you make change to make it better? And I will definitely tell you there's ways to get it better. It's not as complicated as you think.

Speaker 1: 10:44

Yes, you can take iron and first off, you always want to add it into your diet, you know as much as you can, instead of just taking the supplements. If that, because when you're tired and you're overworked and things, you think, oh, wow, what have I done? You know, most of the time there is some sort of underlying thing. Like I said, if there's a inflammatory process infection, maybe there's too much, there's very little acid in the stomach they call it hypochloridia. We'll talk about that at another time or maybe there's a another you know underlying thing. Some individuals also would. I'd recommend some sort of imaging or stool testing, you know, depending upon, or even a SIBO or SIFO, which is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth or small intestinal fungal overgrowth. But I would only depending upon what other symptoms that may come about. That's also a possibility.

Speaker 1: 11:40

And then just kind of seeing you know what that patient needs, you know everybody is so different and then really impacting them or bringing them resources of iron options, iron supplements and vitamin C, so that those hand in hand can go really well. And if someone is doing something that they're inhibiting their iron, what has happened? You know what is going on for them and what are the options that they can take. I do like iron bisglycinate. It is a supplement but it does have ferrous sulfate, gluconate and veramite which helps with combating, like the GI supplements, instead of just taking an iron supplement, and then of course, combat that with vitamin C and then you know if the C of that patient also has that low hydrochloric acid in their stomach. So maybe they need metabedidine hydrochloric.

Speaker 1: 12:37

And, like I said, I'm guilty of this. I had too much coffee. So if I don't, you know, really treat and take care of my biome with its nutritional needs, I will also have low acid. So I got to take care of myself too. So I, you know, I preach about this each and every day and talk about this stuff because it's, you know, it's near and dear to my heart and I'm here to help you in any way that you need. So if you have any questions,