Today we return to Examine.com and another review of a new meta-analysis looking at intravenous iron treatment and reduced risk of cardiovascular hospitalizations and cardiovascular disease mortality in people with heart failure and iron deficiency.
While giving intravenous iron treatment to someone with an iron deficiency might seem logical, it’s not that simple and actually shows extreme incompetence. Let’s see what they had to say.
Key study details
“Eight studies used ferric carboxymaltose, 2 studies used iron sucrose, and 1 study used ferric derisomaltose. Treatment duration ranged from 3 weeks to 2.7 years.”
Ferric carboxymaltose is a colloidal iron (III) hydroxide complexed with carboxymaltose, a carbohydrate polymer that releases iron upon administration. In the body, ferric carboxymaltose is broken down to the body’s best ability, and the very toxic iron is released from the carbohydrate shell to be absorbed by cells of the reticuloendothelial system and the iron then binds to transferrin as quickly as possible to make it non-toxic and usable, and then it is transported to the bone marrow where it is incorporated into hemoglobin in erythroid precursors and mature red blood cells.
Ferric carboxymaltose compounds that are not broken down or absorbed may accumulate in tissues, leading to potential toxicity. The same is true for any iron that is released during the breaking down process and not absorbed and bound to transferrin. In other words, there will always be a lot of toxicity and potential tissue damage when administering ferric carboxymaltose or any non-bioavailable and bioactive form of a compound.
Iron sucrose consists of a polymer of sucrose and iron (III) hydroxide. Once administered intravenously into the body, iron sucrose is broken down to the body’s best ability, and the very toxic iron is transferred to ferritin, the primary iron storage protein in the body. Ferritin then transports the iron to the liver, spleen, and bone marrow, where it is either stored or used for the production of hemoglobin and red blood cells (erythropoiesis.)
However, it’s worth noting that the sucrose shell in iron sucrose is generally not toxic in people with a normal functioning metabolism and is broken down in the liver, spleen, and bone marrow after administration. Still, any inorganic iron that might not be converted will pose a significant risk for toxemia and tissue damage.
Ferric derisomaltose is a complex of iron (III) hydroxide and derisomaltose, an iron carbohydrate oligosaccharide that releases iron into the body depending on how much the body can break down and then bind, just as with any other intravenous iron treatment. Excess and not broken down ferric derisomaltose compounds are not excreted via the kidneys because of the large size of the complex; instead, small quantities of iron are excreted in urine and feces — which can prolong the toxic exposure in the body, causing more tissue damage , and also encourage the accumulation of this toxic compound in tissues.
In conclusion, while intravenous iron treatments can potentially increase iron levels in the body, this all depends on the health status of the body receiving the treatment, as it needs to be broken down from its carrier and then as quickly as possible being bound and converted by transferrin to limit the toxic exposure, as inorganic iron that is released is extremely toxic and damaging to tissues. All these processes require nutrients, enzymes and several metabolic pathways to be working and being efficient.
So, intravenous iron treatments should only be a quick fix solution in extreme iron deficiency cases as the toxicity and damage can be very serious. Also, focus should always be on actually providing the real source of bioavailable and bioactive iron, as in heme iron, which is only available in animal-based foods, especially in blood, organ meats, and fatty cuts of meat.
Getting your iron from real food is the only way to actually get the real iron that the body can use without any kind of risks of toxicity. And more importantly, animal-based foods, the foods that are rich in iron, are also the foods that are rich in every single nutrient that we as humans need. It’s the only way to guarantee being fully nourished and not having any nutrient deficiencies. And this is crucial to understand as we move on.
“The risk of both heart failure hospitalizations and cardiovascular death was reduced by 21%, of both cardiovascular hospitalizations and cardiovascular death by 28%, and of heart failure hospitalizations by 24%. There were no differences in all-cause mortality.”
In other words, about one fourth of those receiving the treatment could go on a little bit longer as their acute iron deficiency were mitigated, and that was enough to avoid death at that stage.
However, three fourths were not affected and neither was all-cause mortality. And this should be obvious as an ‘iron deficiency’ is only possible if you do not consume enough animal-based foods, as in the only source of real bioavailable and non-toxic iron. And if you do not consume enough animal-based food to meet your iron requirements, you can bet that you also have several other nutrient deficiencies and also a very high toxic load from a very bad and lacking diet. That is just common sense.
For heart health and function, iron is important, but so is potassium, sodium, zinc, vitamin D, Vitamin E, vitamin K, and animal fats such as omega-3, cholesterol and saturated fats.
In other words, if your diet is lacking animal-based foods your cardiovascular system, and especially your heart, is going to take damage and simply adding in some iron might help for a very short time if iron is critically low, but it will not change the declining status of your heart health as all these nutrients are needed, and just as importantly, you need to reduce toxicity and especially carbohydrates and plant-based unsaturated fats as in seed/vegetable oils, as these are the most dangerous and damaging offenders.
Also keep in mind that you need to be nourished to be able to detoxify. The more nutrient deficient you are, the more your body will struggle with everything. So, only adding in some iron is futile and extremely incompetent — as you should understand that an iron deficiency is a very obvious sign of malnutrition, as in several nutrient deficiencies.
Always look at the larger picture. Learn to see the forest for the trees.
Examine.com’s take
“Because there was no effect on all-cause mortality, intravenous iron might not change the underlying course of heart failure. However, it may still be helpful for some cardiovascular-related aspects of heart failure and keep people out of the hospital. This would make intravenous iron a useful supportive treatment for people with heart failure and iron deficiency, but it should be part of a broader treatment plan.”
All-cause mortality is defined as the mortality rate for a population across all causes of death. In statistics, all-cause mortality is usually a measure of the total number of deaths from any cause in a specific group of people over a specific period of time.
Of course, simply adding in some iron that is potentially toxic will not help with the underlying cause of heart failure or cardiovascular related deaths, as the underlying problem is tissue damage and toxic accumulation, primarily from a poor diet lacking animal-based foods and mostly comprised of plant-based- and processed foods, and the use of drugs, medicines, supplements, stimulants and badly coping with emotional stress.
So, to conclude, as with any “disease,” the patient should be put on our natural species-specific and species-appropriate carnivorous diet and once a healthy nutritional status is achieved, he or she should be encouraged to do some fasting to accelerate detoxification, healing and autophagy.
I have covered iron deficiencies and the correct procedure in my previous article “Iron Deficiency and Blood Tests Explained” as well as the misconception about toxic non-organic iron (plant-foods and supplements) and the essential heme iron in my article “Backwards Thinking: Heme Iron And Increased Risk of Diabetes?”
In cases of severe iron deficiencies, intravenous iron treatments could be warranted, but should be used in tandem with proper dietary guidelines, as in consuming a lot of animal-based foods as previously mentioned.
Unfortunately, this will never happen as people would actually get healthy and strong, and live long happy and fulfilling lives — the exact opposite to their agenda of total control and keeping the population weak, docile, dumbed down and dependent.
In other words, it’s up to you to take charge and save your own life and help as many around you as you can, because most other people will not care due to their conditioning and programming, especially not those working within the inverted “healthcare” industry.
If you need help with any kind of health problems or transitioning from your current way of eating to our natural species-appropriate, species-specific way of eating, I’m available for both coaching and consultation.
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