Too Much Iron is Bad for the Heart, Study

A study published by the American Heart Association had found more evidence that a diet too rich in iron can cause heart disease in many people. People who are found to have inherited one copy of the mutated gene from each parent had double the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke, the researchers said. The gene involved in a disease is known as hemochromatosis, which allows too much iron to be absorbed from food.

In the United States, statistics show that one in 3,000 people is diagnosed with the condition and one in 250 Americans has two copies of the mutated gene and one in ten has one copy. In the Netherlands, a study at Ultrecht University Medical School studied 12,239 middle-aged women. The result showed that women who have one copy of the hemochromatosis gene had double the risk of dying from a heart or stroke. Women who smoked, had high blood pressure and were carriers of the mutated gene had nearly 19 times the risk of hear attack and stroke death compared to non-smokers with normal blood pressure who did not have the mutation, the researcher said.

"This is the first large study to find a significant association between women who are carriers of the gene and cardiovascular disease,"Mark Roed, the lead researcher shared. He also added that the study also supported the idea that women are protected from heart disease before menopause because they lose iron every month during menstruation.