Iron? - Interesting Hypothesis To Control HIV/AIDS Nutritionally

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In doing a brief search, I find limited clear or conclusive data on

iron and HIV, beyond the Abrams study, that gives support for

optimizing iron in the body when poz. The consideration is that since

iron is an " essential " nutrient, some of it is needed for human

metabolism to function optimally and be healthy. However, it is a

nutrient with a narrow " safety index " unlike some other nutrients with

wide safety indexes, like Vitamin C, folic acid, and most B-vitamins.

So we all need appropriate iron intake to be healthy, but too much can

cause problems and is associated with serious problems like more

potential for some cancers.

How much is too much or too little? The RDA (I joke that this is the

" ridiculous daily allowance " ...lol)for men is 10 mg, but one can't

just figure that there is a universal amount of iron that we all need

to take in, through food and/or supplements. There is too much

biochemical individuality, even among HIV-negative people. The easiest

accessible way to check iron in the body is the blood test called

" ferritin. " How much ferritin is healthy? I find no data that looked

at this in HIV-positive people. Once again, I'd assume that there is a

" too little " range and a " too much " range.

IRON AND HEALTHY HAIR

The lab I use has a normal scale for ferritin of 20 - 380 ng/mL. My

ferritin has measure in the high 20's for years, and I assumed that

this might be good because I am quite athletic and " burn iron " and it

means I am not storing iron, which might cause problems. However, in

investigating hair health after seeing myself having early hair loss a

couple years ago, I interviewed Dr. Perrault, a leading expert on

hair. He knew more than any other MD who is an expert on this that I

spoke with. He told me that the first thing he looks at when men or

women are losing hair is iron status by testing ferritin. If ferritin

is not above 40 ng -- he prescribes iron. I took 100 mg of iron

carbonyl three times per week in ADDITION to the 40 mg of iron in the

vitamins I take (SuperNutrition Opti-Pack) for three months and got my

ferritin up to about 50 ng. (Note that a couple years ago I took

iron-free vitamins to see what happened. Within one year my ferritin

fell off the bottom of normal -- so I resumed taking it in my daily

vitamins and within three months I was back above the bottom of normal

at 20 ng, but I still never got higher than 28 ng after resuming

taking 40 mg of iron per day.)

IRON AND CARNITINE AND HEART HEALTH

Also, a study by Sempos, (NEJM, 1985) showed that there was more death

from heart attacks when ferritin status is low but not when ferritin

is high. Since iron is required for production of carnitine, low iron

status can compromise carnitine production in the body leading to

heart muscle weakness and even heart attack. As we see in HIV, we want

optimal carnitine production and blood levels in the body for several

reasons. Another reason to consider making sure ferrtin is in a

healthy range - for carnitine production.

VITAMIN E HELPS KEEP IRON SAFE

High iron is associated with more oxidation of things like LDL

cholesterol (because iron is a " pro-oxidant. " ) when there is

inadequate Vitamin E and beta carotene to inhibit iron's oxidation.

One study by a with mice showed that Vitamin E could entirely

prevent toxic iron overload that kills mice at what is normally a

lethal dose of iron. Vitamin E supplementation is essential to protect

one from iron's potential pro-oxidant effect. Another study by van

Jaarsveld also provided a look at this.

BUT HOW MUCH IRON?

What level should you or anyone who is poz look for in blood tests? I

don't exactly know, but I have to assume that a low ferritin level is

not good, in general - for things like carnitine production, just like

elevated ferritin is not good. I'd ask my doctor to test my ferritin.

Ask them what they know about what your level should be and consider

that unless there is some specific reason to maintain very low

ferritin, that you'd want ferritin to be above the low end --

somewhere that was reasonable for optimal carnitine production --

perhaps 50 ng or more. may have some insight into this,

as he knows a lot about hepatitis. , is there a ferritin level

that is known to be safe for people with HEP C, for instance?

Thanks,

Mooney

www.michaelmooney.net

www.medibolics.com

1. Sempos CT et al. Body iron stores and the risk of coronary heart

disease. N Engl J Med 1994 Apr 21;330(16):1119-1124.

2. a FO, Blakley BR, Vitamin E is protective against iron toxicity

and iron-induced hepatic vitamin E depletion in mice. Journal of

Nutrition 1993 Oct;123 (10):1649-1655.

3. van Jaarsveld H et al. Dietary iron concentration alters LDL

oxidatively. The effect of antioxidants.

Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol 1998 Jan;99(1):69-80.

> >

> > ,

> >

> > this confuses me. i had read on this list a couple of months ago that

> > REDUCED iron intake was associated with slower hiv progression. i

read

> > it several times to be sure and have reduced my iron intake

> > accordingly. my viral load has been floating betwen 2000-8000 for

> > almost a year now and my doc wants to switch meds, but i'm very

> > hesitant. my tcells and percentile have remained stable between 600-

> > 750 and between 24-30%. i dont recall if my load-bump came at the

same

> > time as my reduced iron intake, but now i'm curious if that's so, and

> > more curious if i should resume taking supplements that include iron.

> >

> > > That supplementation with vitamins and minerals can reduce

> > progression

> > > of HIV to AIDS and progression to death is well-documented now in

> > > several studies, including several studies in Third World countries

> > > and a 6-year study by Abrams of UC Berkeley. In the Abrams

study, for

> > > instance, optimal amounts of iron from food and supplements combined

> > > decreased progression of HIV to an AIDS diagnosis by half

compared to

> > > lesser iron intake. And the amount of iron that was most associated

> > > with reducing HIV progression was 54 mg per day, three times the

> > > RDA.(JAIDS 1993;6:949-958)

> >

> >

> > and to Barrow, i think ur assesment of the 'selenium/

tryptophan/

> > cysteine/glutamine' argument is needlessly reductive.

credentialism is

> > a valueable tool for dismissing snake oil salesmen, but in this case

> > it could be a used car salesman making the argument and i would HAVE

> > to take him seriously. every one of those nutrients has been

> > implicated in hiv-progession for awhile. i was reading of selenium's

> > role in hiv progresion in the early 90's, NAC has long been

associated

> > with reduced oxidative stress (especially from nukes) and HIV itself

> > is thought to cause all sorts of chemical stress, glutamine has been

> > mentioned on this list since i joined years ago, and now may be

> > important thanks to the theory that acute HIV infection wipes out the

> > gut-tcells and they never quite recover. (hell i may be proof of

> > concept for that as my colonoscopy showed a CMV infection at the

> > junction of large n small intestines even tho my tcells r in the

6-700

> > range) i still read controversy as to whether glutamine can even be

> > absorbed digestively, but i know Juven is tolerable whereas 7

grams of

> > arginine on it's own is not. only news to me is re: tryptophan-

> > depletion...but i consume large of amounts of protein so i'm not too

> > worried about that.

> >

> > i dont know the guy's profit-motive in promulgating his theory, but i

> > see nothing worthy of being dismissed out of hand. i infer he

suggests

> > such supplementation on top of haart, and perhaps that as nutritional

> > or social policy such supplements may reduce the overall number of

new

> > infections.

> >

> > most hiv-ers adjunct their HAART with any and every nutritional and

> > lifestyle supplement we can get our mitts on...even with all the red

> > herrings and wasted dollars that will likely result, i think it's as

> > it should be with a disease that for most of us is barely under

> > control. any edge is appreciated.

> >

> >

> > >What really causes AIDS is HIV. There is no evidence

> > >that " deficiencies " of supplements are involved in the

pathogensis of

> > >AIDS, and to post such missinformation does no service to anyone

> > >living with HIV.

> >

> > >People who are seronegative and not healthcare providers, and who

> > >have at best a limited understanding of HIV pathogenesis should not

> > >be trying to guide the treatment decisions of people living with

HIV,

> > >especially if they are making money from their efforts.

> > >JB

> >

>