Hereditary Hemochromatosis : An Essential Mineral

Iron Deficiency Anemia affects millions of individuals across the world. This disease strikes many more women than men and has harmful effects on all who suffer from this deficiency that causes oxygen-carrying capacity to decrease. The causes can vary amongst different groups, but the aggravating symptoms remain constant. Much of the research on Iron Deficiency Anemia concentrates on not only the treatment of this disease, but also the prevention of it. To attain a better understanding of how to treat this problem, one must clearly know what Iron Deficiency Anemia means, what causes this disease, the effects of it, and finally how to cure it.

Hemochromatosis is a genetic disease in which there is too much iron that builds up in your body, this is referred to as an iron overload. Iron is an essential nutrient found in many foods but can be toxic to our bodies if we have to much. “Normally, humans absorb about 8-10% of the iron found in foods that they eat.” People with Hemochromatosis can absorb up to four times more iron than a normal human being. Since our bodies have no natural way to get rid of the extra iron, it gets stored in your body tissue including the liver, heart, pancreas and many other areas of our body can also be infected by this iron overload.

Presumed to have been plaguing humanity since the Viking days, hemochromatosis is a fatal hereditary disease that upsets the body's natural metabolizing of iron. The mineral, although essential to the survival of all living organisms, becomes extremely lethal in abnormally large quantities. Unfortunately, this serves as rather tragic news to the afflicted, since their bodies absorb iron in an uncontrollable manner. A wide variety of medical complications and symptoms, including cancer, infertility, psychiatric disorders, diabetes, arthritis, damage in the overall body chemistry and joints, could consequently occur over a long period of diagnosis. Major organs such as the heart and liver additionally suffer at the hands of hemochromatosis, further adding to the possibility of death if the disease remains unchecked.

Essentially, iron is what allows almost every form of life to metabolize and function. In fact, our bodies body has several mechanisms that prevent access to iron to pathogens and other infectious bacteria thrive on iron that may harm our bodies known as the acute phase response. The author describes this as he states “the bloodstream is flooded with illness-fighting proteins, and, at the same time, iron is locked away to prevent biological invaders from using it against us (7).” So us readers can take away the idea that iron is crucial for our bodies. So how could potentially accumulating too much iron affect our health? That 's when hemochromatosis comes along. Our bodies assumes that the person is lacking iron in their system so they continually absorb the iron in the intestine. Not only that, don’t forget that bacteria and diseases also rely on iron to grow and accumulate.This can cause cancer cells to grow and spread continuously without stopping if it consumes our iron.

The mineral iron (Fe) is a crucial substance for the human body. Many parts of the body require iron in order for the body to function normally. For example, Iron plays an important role in red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body and are mainly composed of haemoglobin, a protein which binds to oxygen and transports it throughout the body. In this molecule, iron is the crucial component which binds to the oxygen. Therefore without iron, the human body cannot transport oxygen to cells throughout the body. Only specific amounts of iron are absorbed by the body to maintain homeostasis. However, iron is a very toxic mineral so if there is too much iron stored in the body, it can lead to serious consequences. People that suffer

Typically, when a human body has a sufficient amount of iron, it will reduce its intake of iron. However, within certain bodies, it is always under the impression that there isn’t enough. Thus, it continues to absorb more iron and this iron overload is the result of a disease called hemochromatosis. Generally, the excess iron builds up in the joints, liver, heart, and other organs which can lead to symptoms that include physical difficulty, joint pain, and an irregular heartbeat. However, the symptoms alone is not enough when it comes to diagnosing hemochromatosis. Therefore, taking part in blood, liver, and/or DNA testing will be more accurate. After diagnosing hemochromatosis, people can undergo treatments such as the medical procedure called bloodletting. By

Proper nutrition of macro and micronutrients is critical for optimal cellular metabolism and function, growth, development, health promotion and the prevention of disease. Due to the direct correlation of nutrition and health, alterations in nutrition can negatively impact all areas of a person’s health including; glucose regulation, immunity, thermoregulation, tissue integrity, hormone regulation, perfusion and cardiac health. Deficient health can negatively affect nutritional status in the form of intake and absorption. Iron deficient anemia (IDA) is a condition that develops through either chronic blood loss or inadequate dietary intake, or a combination of both, leading to inadequate iron in the blood.

Hemochromic Microcytic Anemia is a type of anemia distinguished by having small red blood cells called microcytes. Additionally these red blood cells are hypochromic, which means paler than usual. Therefore Microcytic hypochromic anemia refers to the condition where the patient's red blood cells are smaller (microcytic) and pale ( hypochromic) than in a normal healthy adult (Hampel, Eliana, & Edward, 2016). This type of anemia is associated with iron deficiency. Iron deficiency is the most common Micronutrient Deficiency(MND) worldwide and leads to hypochromic microcytic anemia, as well as impaired immune and endocrine function (Bailey, West, & Black 2015). Iron deficiency accounts for anemia in 5% of american woman and 2% american men (Wimbley,& Graham, 2011). Depending of the severity and cause of the anemia, treatment will vary. Signs and symptoms of this disease include fatigue, loss of stamina, weakness, dizziness, pallor, and shortness of breath. A case study of this disease will be presented to outline risk factors, clinical manifestations, and goals of treatment using evidence based interventions and practice.

Presumed to have been plaguing humanity since the Viking era, hemochromatosis is a fatal hereditary disease that upsets the body's natural metabolizing of iron. The mineral, although essential to the survival of all living organisms, becomes extremely lethal in abnormally large quantities. Unfortunately, this serves as rather tragic news to those afflicted with the disease, since their bodies absorb iron in an uncontrollable manner. Various medical complications and consequences, including cancer, infertility, psychiatric disorders, diabetes, arthritis, and damage in the joints and overall body chemistry, could eventually occur over a long period of time. Hemochromatosis furthermore attacks major organs such as the heart and liver, and

As iron can cause toxicity in the body many mechanisms have developed to regulate the free iron in our systems. All cells within our bodies

Hereditary hemochromatosis (HHC), the accumulation of iron overload in body tissues. This overload of iron usually occurs because of a genetic predisposition to absorb iron in excess. It can also occur as a complication of hematologic disorders, hepatitis, excessive of iron intake, repeated transfusion therapy and injections of iron dextram. Since there is no physiologic mechanism, the only way for excretion of excess iron is blood loss. Iron is transported in the body via transferrin and stored in ferritin molecules. Once the absorption of iron exceeds its storage capacity in the ferritin molecules, all the excess and unbounded iron promotes free-radical formation in cells, which then results in the peroxidation of membrane lipids and injury of cells. The deposition of iron occurs in many organs, such as, liver, pancreas, and heart.

Iron is an essential mineral for our body, without it, people will suffer from fatigue and a lack of energy. The insufficient amount of iron in a human body can cause Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA). This occurs when an individual have less than the normal amount of red blood cells in their system, or inadequate amount of hemoglobin in the blood to transport oxygen through the body (Peterson, 2012). Iron deficiency anemia is very common, especially in infants, teenage girls, and the elderly.

The first disease to be discussed by Dr. Moalem is an inherited disease called hemochromatosis. Hemochromatosis is a blood disorder that affects the body’s process of metabolizing iron. Normally, the body is able to notice when a sufficient amount of iron is present in the blood, and reduces iron absorption by the intestines. However, hemochromatosis disrupts the body’s ability to detect when enough iron is in the blood. Thus, the body absorbs iron continuously, even though there is enough. The iron overload can ultimately lead to liver failure, heart failure, diabetes, arthritis, infertility, psychiatric disorders, cancer, and death. Symptoms of hemochromatosis include abnormal heartbeat rhythm and joint pains. It is difficult to diagnose

Iron Storage Disease (ISD) is a serious condition that affects many animals, including rhinoceroses. ISD is only found in browser rhinoceroses (African black, Diceros biacornis, and Sumatran, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and not in grazers (African white, Ceratotherium simum, and Indian, Rhinoceros unicornis). This disease is also only found in captive animals and is not found in animals in the wild. Iron is an essential trace element and is important in red blood cell formation, oxygen transport, in the production of ATP, and in enzyme systems (Molenaar, 2005). ISD occurs when there is more iron than normal circulating throughout the body, or when it is being deposited within cells (Clauss, 2012). When the hemosiderin, or iron storage molecule,

The micronutrient iron is vital for all living organism since it is required in the various metabolic process. The dietary requirement of iron for an average human is 1-2 milligram per day to compensate the minor loss of iron via bleeding, menstruation or the sloughing off of epithelial cells (Paul 2015) (figure 1). Despite its cruciality for life, iron is a double-edged sword and it is harmful in either extreme. When there is an excess iron in plasma, it binds to a low molecular weight molecule like citrate, acetate and albumin forming non-transferrin-bound iron (NTBI) which