Comprehensive Library Of Resveratrol News

A massive genetic evaluation encompassing data from over 1 million people concludes iron metabolism genes are involved in human aging and explains why individuals live longer than their peers.  The database analysis was equivalent to studying 1.75 million lifespans and more than 60,000 extremely long-lived people.

This adds to the body of science behind the overmineralization theory of aging as postulated by this author.  The progressive accumulation of iron, copper and calcium, beginning in males after full childhood growth and in females with the onset of menopause and cessation of menstrual blood (iron) losses, are drivers of aging.

Inflammaging

Modern medicine is bloated with treatments but few cures.  Reduction of age-related inflammation is a current thrust in the medical literature.  Increased inflammation with advancing age is called inflammaging which is called “The biggest killer of them all.”

Yet reduction of inflammation via anti-inflammatory drugs is like lighting matches and continually using fire extinguishers.  What is the cause of the inflammation?  Then the root cause may be addressed.

In a perfect state of health, minerals are bound to proteins: iron to ferritin; copper to ceruloplasmin, calcium to albumin.  Loose unbound minerals generate oxidation and inflammation.

Four decades of iron science

The iron theory of heart disease was first posited by medical student Jerome Sullivan in 1981.  Sullivan observed that pre-menopausal women were protected from heart disease via menstrual loss of blood.  About 70-90% of the body’s iron stores are carried in red blood cells.  As menopause sets in and menstruation ceases, iron levels rise in women to that of men and so does the risk for heart disease.

In 2000 Sullivan proposed blood-letting to reduce iron stores in males and post-menopausal women would be therapeutic and preventive.  Oral iron-chelating drugs have also been proposed that bind to unbound iron and facilitate its removal.  Blood-letting is posed as a cure for all age-related disease.

Anemic but iron overloaded

A perplexing problem is that the body withholds iron in a state of iron overload.  This is a defensive mechanism.  Unbound iron is what generates inflammation and oxidation.  Iron is normally bound to hemoglobin in red blood cells and stored in ferritin, the iron storage protein.

Bacteria, viruses and malignancies use iron as a growth factor.

The human body attempts to withhold iron to stunt the spread of infection and growth of malignancies.

Chronic inflammation, infection or malignancy raise ferritin levels (keep iron in the closet).

Levels of ferritin rise in a state of inflammation giving the false impression there is iron overload, but hemoglobin and red blood cell levels drop because the iron is bound to ferritin and can’t make it into bone marrow to produce new red cells.  So, some iron overloaded individuals may appear to be iron deficient when they are in fact iron overloaded.

Rusty arteries

Despite the convincing evidence of iron’s role in heart disease, the paradigm of heart disease is still reduction of circulating cholesterol levels which has never been shown to significantly reduce mortality.  Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs reduce the risk for a non-mortal heart attack by around 1 in 80 subjects over a 5-year period.  Yet over 25 million Americans still take statin cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Ferritin in aging

The progressive increase in iron levels as measured by the iron storage protein ferritin is shown in the following chart.

Natural molecules, provided in dietary supplements, serve to bind to unbound minerals and remove them and substitute for blood letting.  Resveratrol binds to copper, quercetin, fisetin and IP6 rice bran to iron, IP6 rice bran to calcium.  When these mineral binders are provided together they work synergistically.