Anemia. Chances are that you know someone with this. And you seem them chewing iron supplements or having infusions or just feeling bad. Taking iron supplements is inflammatory to your body, and best minimised. Better to get it from your food.
Here is a bit of a brain dump that you can rehack for your own benefit.
- First – easiest to improve the absorption of iron from your food. The easy way to do this is to take some Vitamin C when you have a meal with iron in it. Read the Discussion here: https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/73/1/93/4729737
Hack: as Vitamin C is water soluble, it is one of the vitamins it is very difficult to overdose on – you just pee out any you don’t absorb. This means you could take 500mg with every meal as a test hack, and see what happens.
2. Supplement – Apolactoferrin/Lactoferrin. https://ijma.journals.ekb.eg/article_34024.html You can buy this stuff called Lactoferrin online. It is a milk derivative. There are two forms: lactoferrin and APOlactoferrin. One study showed that iron absorption was improved more with APOlactoferrin. This supplement also has a positive effect on your mixture in your gut biome. Ie you get a better mix of bacteria living there – and that MAY the cause of the improved absorption.
This is the study that shows APOlactoferrin is more useful than the other lactoferrin forms: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344128102_Iron_Absorption_is_Greater_from_Apo-Lactoferrin_and_is_Similar_Between_Holo-Lactoferrin_and_Ferrous_Sulfate_Stable_Iron_Isotope_Studies_in_Kenyan_Infants
3. Coffee (or tea) with meals reduces iron absorption. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6402915/ Sorry about that. It is pretty clear. Don’t have coffee or tea with meals containing iron if you are anemic. Using a hamburger to test, having a cup of coffee reduced iron absorption by 39%, and cup of tea reduced it by 64%. Stronger coffee or tea further reduced absorption.
If you have your coffee or team a full hour before the meal containing iron, the iron was absorbed well. But waiting an hour after a meal still resulted in massive iron drops.
Hack: Use coffee or tea as part of your timed eating program (time restricted eating). Have your coffee an hour before you break your fast.
4. Plant polyphenol Myricetin. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27012621/ The dietary flavonoid myricetin regulates iron homeostasis by suppressing hepcidin expression.
That sounds complicated, but what you need to know is the hepcidin (which is one of your normal hormones), turns OFF iron absorption, that’s it’s job. So if you want to increase your iron absorption, you want to DECREASE your hepcidin release. The herb Myricetin does this. Where can you buy Myricetin? Great question.
The only place I know that offers it is a hacker that finds the best health supplements for pets. https://wwn.com.au/product/myricetin-400mg-capsules-60-pack/
This is a herbal extract – and the product is the same as for humans. In dogs there are some powerful research studies for Myricetin for use in cancers in dogs (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29663365/ and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0753332219337771#) Myricetin is found in many edible plants – and seems an amazing supplement (please note – this website does not give medical advice, and you should discuss any compound you are considering with a sensible doctor.) I will be doing another post on Myricetin as it is VERY interesting not just for fixing things, but also for anti-aging.
5. Vitamin D is ESSENTIAL for your body to manage your iron stores. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32538041/# Here is the conclusion of this decent sized review study:
“Conclusions: The findings of this large study population, who live in a Mediterranean city which is sunny for 300 days of the year, indicate that 25(OH)D deficiency is significantly associated with iron deficiency and/or anemia.”
Here is my simplified version: Vit D levels were SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER in those people who also had anemia. With 99.99% confidence level.
Hack: If you have anemia, and not had your Vit D levels checked, pick up your phone and make an appointment with your GP right now. The essence of bodyhacking to measure things that are important. Vit D is important. It is not only a “vitamin” – it is also a “prohormone”. So if you are “deficient” – and you probably are if you have ANY chronic condition – that is something you need to measure, and then fix.
Vitamin D has been in the news lately because you are also more susceptible to respiratory infections if your levels are low. Your levels will be low if you are “sun-phobic” and “protect yourself from the Sun”. This will be the subject of another Biohack post shortly, but in summary – get some Sun on you, preferable morning and afternoon Sun. And stop wearing sunglasses. (That’s another hack.)
Your D levels will also be lower if you have a bit of obesity (you are good at storing extra fat), if you have darker skin (this means you are have less ability to make Vit D as your skin is designed for very sunny places near the equator), or if you are diabetic. If you are older, you are also less efficient at making Vit D. The POWER HACK remains the same – get your levels checked. ASAP.
If your Vit D levels are insufficient, you will be more likely to also have “conditions” like depression, poor sleep, inflammatory diseases (all of them). And make sure you check your elderly family and friends as well.
All of these steps are valuable for iron deficiency anemia (and lots of other problems that can interact with each other to make your life a bit miserable sometimes). If you have haemochromatosis, where your body stores TOO MUCH IRON – you can do the reverse of the steps above. Yes – drink coffee or tea when you have a steak, avoid Myricetin, but make sure your Vit D levels are HIGH!