What causes too much iron in your blood?
Most of my clients are dealing with complex, chronic illnesses and are trying every possible option to feel better. Sometimes they eat highly specialized, stringent diets to see if their symptoms improve.
Over the past two years, however, I have noticed an increase in a symptom picture that I believe is important to share. This client is a female with low libido and hormonal imbalances. She often deals with overwhelming emotions, particularly anger and rage. She is fatigued and frequently has joint and abdominal pain and sometimes recurring headaches or migraines, with changes in skin pigmentation. Finally, she is eating according to Whole30, Autoimmune Protocol/Autoimmune Paleo Diet, or the Carnivore Diet guidelines. But, instead of feeling better while eating these diets, she feels worse and worse.
The basis of these diets is a restriction of food groups that may create food reactions in some sensitive people. (And, in the case of the Carnivore Diet, a restriction of all food groups except for animal flesh.)
The food group restriction is then followed by a phase of re-introduction in order to assess how the body responds to the food. This is a boilerplate elimination diet, and, by and large, I agree with the concept. It’s the gold standard way to identify food reactions. (Yes, even according to the conventional medical model.)
However, sometimes the re-introduction phase is delayed or avoided. Perhaps the person is finally feeling some relief from long-standing symptoms. But, sometimes, even though the person is actually feeling worse while eating the diet, they try to diet “harder” in order to experience success.
To be clear, there is absolutely no blame I place on someone trying their hardest to feel better. Chronic illness is often debilitating and disorienting. But as clinicians or as someone feeling worse after strictly following a restrictive diet, it’s important to understand one possible outcome of such a protocol: too much iron in your blood.
What causes too much iron in your blood?
During the elimination phase of these protocols, many foods must be completely avoided. Even generally healing foods such as whole grains, legumes, and seeds are avoided in order to allow the body time to “reset.” Because many foods are taken out, the foods that are left—meats, vegetables, fruits, and fats—are the only source of calories for a period of up to 90 days.
It may be that an over-reliance on red meat, an increase in vitamin C-rich foods (either from raw animal foods, gelatin, plant foods, or supplements), and possibly cooking in cast iron cookware can lead to an iron overload in some people.
Please do not overlook some very important words in that sentence: it may be that this is happening, and only in some people. People with a history of iron anemia will more than likely never experience this issue. But people with a tendency to hold too much iron in their blood should be aware of this occurrence.
The medical term for iron overload is hemochromatosis. Hemochromatosis can be genetic (primary) or acquired (secondary). While a simple Google search labels it as “rare,” the reality is that this is an unfortunate myth. Iron overload occurs in approximately one of every 230 to 500 people and is more prevalent in Caucasian people versus other ethnicities. Symptoms and complications occur more commonly in men, as women lose blood monthly due to menses. And symptoms do not often present until after middle age—around 50 years of age for men and 60 years of age for women. While the most common cause of hemochromatosis is genetic, too much iron in the blood can also be a result of overconsumption of iron-rich foods.
Theoretically, if a person is genetically predisposed to hemochromatosis while eating an iron-rich diet, symptoms may show up earlier in life.
Symptoms include:
- hypothyroidism
- low libido
- joint pain
- skin pigmentation
- headaches
- endocrine imbalances
- fatigue
- brain fog
These symptoms overlap with similar symptoms that occur in many chronic illnesses. This becomes a difficult problem to solve, as people with chronic illnesses commonly use restrictive diets to improve symptoms.
The takeaway, I believe, is to pay close attention to each individual during the implementation of such protocols. Do you feel better, progressively, while eating an elimination diet? Do you feel the same? Or, do you feel worse, or even much worse, three to four weeks into the diet? This final question is not a signal to “diet harder”—it is a sign that the particular protocol may not be the right fit for you. And the reason why might be that there is too much iron in your blood.