It’s because sema and tirz reduce LDL-cholesterol by 5-10% and retatrutide by up to 20%.
Well yea that’s a much larger factor for CVD reduction along with reduced blood pressure. I’m just saying lower iron could add more to that reduction if someone had a higher iron status to begin with.
John Hemming: Bearing in mind costs,
What measurements do you think would be most useful for me to track and when? For example, I initially measured a standard iron panel, but when I retested I just tested for labile iron.
233ug/dL before down to 165ug/dl after. Ferratin, tibc in range.
The issue with this is that these are just blood test results. They’re not tissue samples. What else is good to test?
I can share my HTMA results before and after as well, but HTMA has a repeatability problem, so they are not used in consensus science. However, I believe it is conceivable that if we only consider samples from the same lab and relative, not absolute changes, then there could be some value that can’t be captured from any other means?
Please also feel free to mention more expensive testing as well, just to consider.
In addition, I’m in Hong Kong. If anyone knows anything about pairing with a university to get access to testing equipment, please let me know.
If anyone knows anything about testing metal excretion in urine too, please let me know as well.
While I value studies and papers, I’d like to see more people sharing their experiences with lowering iron. Experimentation is the backbone of science. Get hands-on. Even if it’s only measurement at first, starting with that free iron blood test.
Ferritin is a useful figure. Just because a lab says it is in range does not mean there is not an issue. One problem with ferritin is that if you are inflamed ferritin will be higher. Micrograms per deciliter sounds unusual units.
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https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40570516/
This study suggests that excessive use of supplements, resulting in iron overload, may accelerate individual aging through inflammation-related pathways. Nevertheless, a diet abundant in anti-inflammatory or antioxidant properties could counteract this heightened risk of aging.
Notably, dietary iron derived solely from food was not associated with any harmful effects on aging. In contrast, supplemental iron intake showed a positive association with PhenoAgeAccel (β = 0.017), highlighting the potential risks of excessive supplement use. Moreover, the aforementioned associations showed no gender differences
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I don’t have a deficiency. My Ferritin is 53-55. Hemoglobin 14.3. Iron 132. Total iron binding capacity 311. I’m a pescatarian, eat mostly veggies but also cheese, yogurt in addition to fish.
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How are you all keeping iron down? I’m using EGCG with zinc. I go faint when donating blood, but I’ll try again. I’d like to hear account of IP6 and other approaches.
Iron is complicated so first I want to say that I am not an expert at all. I had ferritin of 250-300 for years and years but didn’t worry too much about it. I started something called DMSA which is a chelation product. I had high levels of lead and Cadmium and even Uranium. This oral chelator worked like a charm and was pretty cheap. I bought off ebay from somebody in UK. He’s gone now from there I don’t know why. I wish I could get another batch. It made me sleep like a baby for a night or two.
Oh yeah the point of all this is that when I took the DMSA for the lead, my ferritin dropped from 250 to 70 right away. Of course the DMSA grabs the first thing it sees. This is my personal experience only. I have not read a lot about it.
I am struggling a bit to increase Iron. That is because I do a lot of blood tests.
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New iron deficiency standards for diagnosis released
https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/new-iron-deficiency-standards-diagnosis/
"The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has adjusted the standards for diagnosing iron deficiency in order to address the underdiagnosis of the condition.
Iron deficiency impacts about two billion people worldwide and about 10 million American adults, according to a statement published by ASH. If left untreated, the condition can progress to iron deficiency anemia. One of the most common types of anemia.
It occurs when there’s a lack of iron in the blood, preventing the body from making hemoglobin. This is the molecule that carries oxygen throughout your body, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
“Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia are among the most common yet neglected medical conditions globally,” ASH President Dr. Robert S. Negrin said in the statement.
“Many patients live with symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, dizziness or difficulty concentrating for months or even years before iron deficiency is recognized. These guidelines are an important step toward closing that gap by helping clinicians diagnose iron deficiency earlier and more accurately, so more patients can receive the care they need.”
What is iron deficiency? Is it dangerous?
Iron deficiency is diagnosed through a blood test that looks at the ferritin in your blood, the blood protein that contains iron, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The new regulation raises the ferritin threshold from 12 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) to 20 ng/ml for children 9 months old to 4 years old. Adults can be diagnosed with iron deficiency with 30 or less ng/ml; the previous threshold was 15 ng/ml.
People who are considered at high risk for developing iron deficiency include people with gastrointestinal issues, dietary restrictions, women who are pregnant or menstruating, or who have other chronic health conditions. About 70% of undiagnosed people fall under one of the high-risk categories, according to the statement.
The new guidance means people who previously didn’t meet the criteria may now have ferritin levels low enough to be diagnosed. The ASH recommends that people speak with their doctors about having their ferritin levels tested under the new criteria."
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This is an interesting paper from 2025
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-025-00981-4
chatGPT (6 astra) prompt: is the paper consistent with the hypothesis that the body is responding to high levels of stored iron by trying to reduce its effects on cells
Yes. That is very close to the authors’ central interpretation: some T cell dysfunction appears to be the cost of a protective response to an iron- and heme-rich environment. Nature Aging
The proposed response is to reduce the amount of chemically reactive iron available inside cells:
| Observed change | Protective effect | Functional cost |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced induction of CD71, the transferrin receptor | Limits iron uptake | Restricts the additional iron needed during immune activation |
| Increased ferritin expression | Increases capacity to sequester iron | Can leave less iron readily available for cellular processes |
| Lower labile iron pool, associated with reduced IRP2 | Increases resistance to iron-dependent cell death | Impairs DNA synthesis and proliferation |
A particularly persuasive experiment supports this interpretation: adding iron improved aged T cell proliferation, but also removed their resistance to experimentally induced ferroptosis. That is evidence of a survival-function trade-off, rather than merely an association between iron and poor cell function.
There are two qualifications to your wording:
- Stored iron and damaging iron are different. Iron safely contained within ferritin is relatively protected from participating in damaging reactions. The problem could be excessive accumulation, inappropriate location, or release of iron and heme during defective red blood cell recycling. Increased storage can itself be part of the defence.
- The evidence is strongest for a cellular response to local conditions. The study does not establish that the body measures total iron stores and coordinates this response throughout all tissues.
The authors also suggest that limiting the release of stored iron through ferritinophagy could be protective. However, they did not directly measure that process, so this part remains a hypothesis.
Hence high iron levels can result in the symptoms of low iron levels.
I still think there are good arguments to have adult ferritin at least around the 50-70 mark. (dopamine)
Incidentally I have the chatGPT summary of the whole paper and can post it if anyone wants it.
I’m confused by a few things.
The ASH does not create regulations. That is the role of government not a medical body.
The normal range of ferritin for an adult male at labs near me which are a combo of academic institutions and national chains have been 22 or 24 for at least 10 years and got moved to 30-34 more recently by some (all?). I just checked and UNC is 30 and functionhealth (Quest) is 38.
Women have been 11 but lately low 22-24. This aligns a bit with this article. It just isn’t new and is a female range which the article do esn’t mention.
So there is an ignored (in the recommendations) gender difference and the change isn’t new. The real baseline for women, who are studied much more, is 50. I say that because that is what the studies use as a cutoff when studying iron vs placebo and improvements.
50 was used in a study published in 2011 in Blood - which is the official journal of the ASH. So what is new about finally moving it from 11? Fifteen years from a RCT to a change in recommendations is absurd. Practicing hematologists have been using 50 for a long time.
The reality is that about 35% of menstruating women are iron deficient and this is not a fringe viewpoint. That is significantly more than 10 million Americans.
The ASH should be embarrassed how slow they have reacted to studies, that the labs had already changed the numbers and practicing hematologists already use higher standards. All of this adds fuel to the fire that women are treated unequally by the healthcare system. I’ve personally felt the only reason for the ridiculous 11 was that the cost of giving iron infusions to the 25 million women who live below 50 is prohibitive. I’ve personally dealt with insurance denials because of the “normal” range.
Jumping off soapbox to go take some iron. And do a favor to any young women you know - have the ferritin checked. Because the ASH maybe behind the times but the primary doctors are really lost here.
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This is where we get into the complex questions as to what force of law any particular recommendation has. The ASH in this instance was creating standards, from the perspective of duty of care (this may be and English and Welsh legal term that may not apply in the USA) it probably has advisory force.
The ASH probably cannot create regulations other than for members of the ASH.
I do have some detailed knowledge about Public Administrative Law in the UK and particularly in the jurisdiction of England and Wales (there are three jurisdictions in the UK).
I agree that there is a lot of misunderstanding about Iron. The sweet spot is much narrower than the lab guidance.
Bro, what caused that? I want to hear your story.
I had a bad CAC a few years ago, so was looking for reasons. High metals is a reason. I think oral health is another one. Well I went in for chelation and they do what’s called a challenge. You do EDTA IV for 3 hours , then pee in a bottle for 6 hours I think. Send in a sample of the urine. They check it for how much metal was removed. There is a way that they fix it for the amount of urine you produce. I can’t come up with it right now off the top of my head. Middle of harvest and 12 hour days in the field. Mine came up high for lead, cadmium and Uranium. The uranium was from my mom’s plates, this is well known. I can’t figure out how I got the other ones.
EDTA challenges are controversial. Chelation is controversial especially for heart disease. I wrote about this here:
EDTA is the most expensive and difficult way to do this. DMSA is oral and cheap. Pectasol does it as well and has great side benefits.