The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson,

and is narrated by Tina Lehman.

Should you reduce your iron intake?

Iron has an unequivocally positive reputation among the general public.

After all, pregnant women use it to construct tiny humans.

Tiny humans use it to become slightly larger, more functional humans, and our cells require it to grow.

And in many developing countries, iron deficiency is a

real issue. Too little iron can have disastrous effects on cognition, growth, and overall physical

robustness. Even adult women who aren't building tiny humans inside their wombs may run low on iron due to menstrual cycle blood

loss. Ask the average person, and you'll hear, the more iron the better. Consequently,

many countries mandate iron fortification of wheat flour. In the U.S., we fortify pretty much everything

with the stuff, because it's just so, so good for us.

Is it true, though? Not necessarily. There's another side to iron. Its inherent proclivity for

electronic exchange can create free radicals that damage DNA, cells, and blood lipids. Observational studies link iron intake and

stored iron to disease and disease states like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, insulin resistance,

inflammation, Alzheimer's disease, hypertension, fatty liver, hypothyroidism, arthritis, and cancer. The list of disease states

connected to excess body stores of iron is impressive and, frankly, daunting. You name it,

it's probably linked to excess iron levels. A huge post on the link between iron fortification and obesity

went up at Free the Animal earlier this year. Heck, one researcher even thinks that the iron

content of tobacco smoke may be responsible for its negative health effects. Does that mean iron

causes these diseases and we should all stop eating red meat

forever? No, there's more to the story, of course, and observational studies can't prove

...