Recent articles in the New England Journal of Medicine indicate that a person may have iron overload without having a hereditary disease called hemochomatosis or other obvious reasons for the problem such as multiple blood transfusions or other obvious exposure.
Another study of heart disease, 13% of those screened had indicators of iron overload. This cannot be explained by heredity. It also correlates with findings in my own practice and other physicians using nutritional functional medicine.

Why is this important to someone who has a diagnosis of Parkinson’s? Well lets first look at what Iron does in the body.

Iron has three major roles in the body:

1. It transport oxygen to the cells through hemoglobin.

2. Iron is needed for energy production in every cell through ATP production.

3. Iron assists in catalase Production. Catalase is an enzyme that travels around the body and picks up free oxygen atoms called free radicals.

Several reports have suggested that iron accumulation in Parkinson’s patients might  contribute to oxidative stress during Parkinson’s Disease.

Nigral Iron Elevation Is an Invariable Feature of Parkinson’s Disease and Is a Sufficient Cause of Neurodegeneration!

Is iron elevation contributing to neuronal death in Parkinson’s disease, or is it simply a feature of dying neurons? YES! Examples demonstrate that a primary elevation in nigral iron is a sufficient cause of Parkinsonian neurodegeneration; thus iron elevation evidenced in familial and sporadic cases of PD has the clear potential to contribute to the degenerative process. A variety of animal models have demonstrated that iron elevation is sufficient to cause neurodegeneration in the nigra. Direct injection of iron into the midbrain region of rats causes SN neuronal loss. A number of studies employing an iron feeding protocol to neonatal mice have shown Parkinsonism and nigral degeneration in these mice when they reach adulthood.

Iron elevation can cause oxidative stress-mediated cell death. Within biological systems iron can react with oxygen to catalyze the formation of the toxic hydroxyl radical via the Fenton reaction. This leads to the accumulation of alpha synuclein deposition and Parkinson’s Lewy body pathology! Alpha synuclein is often considered the Parkinson’s protein owning to extensive links to the disease. Aggregated alpha synuclein is also the major component of Lewy bodies, the pathological hallmark for PD. Alpha synuclein binds to iron, which accelerates its aggregation into fibrils. Alpha synuclein has also been shown to directly generate hydrogen peroxide when it aggregates and, in the presence of iron, produce toxic hydroxyl radicals. Iron is also found enriched in Lewy bodies, providing in vivo evidence that iron elevation could induce Lewy body deposition in PD.

So is iron elevation the cause of PD? Not really, since there has to be some other process that causes iron to elevate in the first place. The same could be said of any other factor implicated in PD. If alpha synuclein is the cause of Parkinson’s disease, what causes the protein to aggregate? Understanding the cause of PD may be difficult to define.

Oxidative damage via Glutathione depletion might also accelerate the build-up of defective proteins leading to cell death of Substatia Nigra neurons by impairing anti oxidant activity. Replenishment of normal glutathione levels within the brain may hold an important key to therapeutics for PD.  Is the Glutathione assisting the brain to deal with a high level of iron? Is the iron depleting the Glutathione because there is a higher need to quench the increased level of oxidative stress in the brain? I would suggest yes! I have seen many patients in my Functional Neurological practice who I have placed on GlutaMax which is a Glutathione suppository or GlutaGenisis, a nebulized form of Glutathione and seen positive subjective and objective findings clinically.  I like the suppository form because there is a slow release with peak plasma levels (levels in your blood) 5-6 hours long! It should be noted that Glutathione will not absorb well through the gut so forget about oral Glutathione. Looking at Iron toxicity and working with PD patients to clear this heavy metal from the body and brain may hold great clinical benefit along with supplementing with Glutathione!

IRON IN THE AVERAGE DIET

There is some evidence that the average American diet includes excess iron for men but perhaps not enough for menstruating women. I tend to disagree with this, as many women today have iron toxicity to some degree, as revealed on hair mineral analyses.
Higher iron foods include liver, kidneys, all red meats, chicken, turkey, eggs, clams, oysters, other seafood, many fish, kelp, blackstrap molasses, brewer’s and torula yeast, bone meal, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, dark green vegetables, and soybeans. Iron is also added to most white flour products, and it is found in some vitamin pills and other vitamin/mineral preparations.

EXCESSIVE SOURCES OF IRON

1. White Flour Products. The most important single source of excess iron is refined wheat flour products.
2. Vitamin Supplements And Tonics With Iron.

3. Red Meat And, To A Limited Degree, All Dark-colored Foods.

4.Tobacco can be high in iron depending on the soil on which it is grown. Alcohol intake of any amount tends to worsen iron overload difficulties because alcohol depletes zinc, an important iron antagonist.

6. Pollution. Iron contamination of the air, water and soil is quite common, especially in iron-producing areas of the nation such as the Midwestern US and parts of California, Arizona and others as well. Industrial iron contamination may also occur anywhere. Water supplies, especially if the water is slightly yellow or orange, are a common source of excess inorganic iron. Wells should always be tested for iron contamination. Iron cookware is a source of iron if used to cook tomatoes or other acidic foods. Rarely is this a major problem, however, if the other sources are not in the picture.

7. Occupational Exposure. Welders, electrical workers who use solder, iron and pipe workers, steel fabricators and other occupations may expose one to enormous quantities of toxic iron.

8. Emotional Iron Sources. Holding on to one’s anger or rage appears to keep iron in the body. While this is not a source of iron toxicity, it still has an extremely damaging effect. In fact, anger, rage, and hostility, all traits associated with iron, are qualities associated with planet earth, which is an iron-rich planet.

IRON AND HAIR TISSUE MINERAL ANALYSIS MIGHT BE THE BEST TEST TO DETERMINE OVERLOAD!

Hair tissue mineral analysis is helpful to identify an iron imbalance in most cases, but one must not just use the hair iron level. Here are the main indicators:

1. HAIR TISSUE IRON GREATER THAN ABOUT 2 MG%. this indicator applies mainly to an initial hair mineral test before any treatments the hair iron may elevate as the body eliminates excess iron through the hair.

2. IRON IN THE LOW RANGE. This is a hair tissue iron level of less than about 1.2 mg%. It indicates the body is having difficulty clearing iron.

3. ELEVATED MANGANESE OR ALUMINUM. When aluminum is above about 1.2 mg% or manganese is greater than about 0.04 mg% in the hair tissue, iron toxicity with biounavailable iron is almost always present.

Whys to clear out Iron from the body and brain.

Iron is difficult for the human body to eliminate. This may be because iron is such an essential mineral. The body conserves iron carefully, rather than risk excreting too much. Humans often had to survive on low-iron vegetable diets for months, so iron conservation was essential. Today we have the opposite situation in many parts of the world. White flour in enormous amounts, along with red meat and iron-rich vegetables are in abundance in most developed nations. Also, excessive iron in the air and water supplies are common. The only methods I am aware of to remove excess iron from the body are:

1. Avoiding Dietary Iron.

2. Decreasing the body’s need for Iron.

2. Phlebotomy or bleeding (removing blood).

3. Iron chelating drugs and other substances.

Diet. Iron toxicity is often largely caused by dietary imbalances. The diet must exclude white flour and some red meat except perhaps lamb once or twice a week. Other restrictions for iron are usually not needed, except perhaps to avoid molasses, red beets or other very high-iron foods or using a lot of iron cookware. Eliminate all sugars, including most all fruit, all fruit juices, which upset blood sugar, and all other sweet foods.

More Rest, Emotional Adjustment, if needed, And A Healthful, Low-Stress Lifestyle. Rest, stress reduction and releasing negative emotions are essential for the best results.
Emotions such as anger, rage and resentment greatly increases iron retention in some individuals. The body seeks to maintain adequate adrenal activity by retaining iron and manganese, among other minerals. These, in fact, can irritate weak adrenal glands, which keeps the adrenals pumping out hormones when they would prefer rest.Reduce The Activity Of The Sympathetic Nervous System. The sympathetic nervous system inhibits proper digestion, proper elimination and many other vital body functions. It is a fight-or-flight response that millions of people are caught in. Assist the Eliminative Organs. Any method that assists the liver, kidneys, bowels and skin will help remove iron, as well as all other toxic substances in the body. Many methods are available to do this. Infrared saunas, coffee enemas, and, at times, herbs such as milk thistle, black radish, dandelion or uva ursi to assist the activity of the colon, kidneys and liver, primarily. The right amount of iron antagonists minerals such as manganese, chromium, selenium and zinc should be taken.

Iron clearing or chelators.

One of my personal favorites is Lactoferrin. 

Lactoferrin up-regulates the immune system by regulating iron in the body, with the Apolactoferrin form functioning specifically to lower iron levels.

Green tea can absorb iron and prevent the absorption of iron.

One can drink green tea with each meal and also take green tea extract supplements which may be more effective. You would want to take the extract that contains concentrated polyphenols and tannins.     Four to ten capsules daily are needed, each with a polyphenol content of about 300 mg at least, according to Disease Prevention And Treatment.

Another chelator is vitamin C, except for the somewhat serious difficulty that vitamin C also enhances iron absorption, so is less useful unless given intravenously.

MEDICAL METHODS FOR REMOVING IRON

1. Bloodletting. Leeches or phlebotomy (removing blood by intravenous needle) have been and are presently the major methods used to reduce iron levels in cases of disorders involving excessive iron.

2. Chelating Drugs. Iron chelators such as deferoxamie, penecillamine or even EDTA to some degree will remove some iron. Deferiprone, was recently shown to benefit PD patients in a phase II clinical trial (PMID: 24251381) [113]. This is the first drug to show a disease-modifying effect for PD, which highlights the potential for targeting iron for PD pharmacotherapy, and strongly implicates iron in the disease mechanism. This method is not used much as it is not safe, the drugs can be toxic, and it is more costly as well. I think they need to do a study using more natural methods to remove iron and publish that!

Problems with iron chelators include:

a) Other vital minerals and other substances may be removed
b) Deferoxamine and other drugs are toxic to a degree.
c) They remove both available and biounavailable iron, which is not good at all.
d) They do not tend to address the underlying causes. Chelation may address some causes if it is able to remove lead, cadmium and other toxic metals. However, chelation can also worsen mineral imbalances in some people, especially those with low tissue calcium or magnesium or zinc levels.

In conclusion I highly recommend anyone who is dealing with a Parkinson’s Diagnosis begin to explore iron as a possible issue in the matrix of issues seen in the disease. I work with patients all over the world who have Parkinson’s and would be available for consultation!

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