A ranch house, a zip lock bag and some ordinary flourTwo experiments:
- Some ordinary wheat flour such as can be found in most homes placed with some water in a zip-lock plastic bag. A magnet is passed over bag and an extraordinary thing happens - Iron particles start popping out and attaching themselves to side of bag, forming clusters of what looked like iron filings.
- The next experiment involves placing a well-known brand of cereal into a bowl of water. The magnet is again passed over bowl this time and flakes literally line up and follow magnet round bowl.
This is first time I realized that there is so much added iron in food that we eat and effect it can have on our health.
We've all been told that heart attacks and heart bypass surgery are as a direct result of clogging or furring of our arteries by 'bad cholesterol'. The arteries become so narrowed as to make blood flow through arteries very difficult thus placing enormous strains on cardio-vascular system.
Why do we need chelators and what are they?
- A few trace metals that we absorb are toxic, these include iron and lead
- To make use of them our bodies must form chelates (key-lates) out of them, and to do this requires chelating substances
- Chelating substances attach to desirable trace metals and allow body to properly utilize those metals they also attach to undesirable trace metals and allow body to remove them.
Types of Chelator
- Many chemicals can serve as chelators. Their effects will depend on precise nature and concentration of that chelator.
- There are some weak chelators present in common foods.
- Stronger chelators are substances used medicinally to rid body of excess toxic metals
Why is there potential for Iron Overload?
Iron overload is possible because there is no normal mechanism for removing it from body.
The body is iron-efficient, it retains its iron and recycles it over and over again.
The body's iron level is controlled almost entirely by absorption and iron can build up progressively as dietary intake increases, especially in men because they do not have a monthly blood loss.
Over a period of months and years this will result in accumulation of several grams of iron.
Iron and Heart Disease Risk
Iron can generate free radical pathology.
There is now good evidence that free radical pathology leads to changes in blood vessels which sets stage for atheroscelerosis.
Accumulation of excess iron in body may increase risk for heart disease and connection doesn't end there....
Health statistics have revealed that women have a lower risk of heart disease than men, until menopause, after which risk is same.
Why?
Pre-menopausal women have a monthly blood loss that rids body of excess, potentially toxic iron, which may protect against heart disease.
Even pre-menopausal women with high blood cholesterol levels and high levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol, which are considered to be strong risk factors for heart disease, have less heart disease than men.