Posted on 06/01/2023 10:38:38 AM PDT by ConservativeMind
What you eat and how your body uses the nutrients in your food also matters to mental health.
A growing amount of research suggests that one key nutrient—iron—plays an important role.
People with mental health conditions may specifically want to ask their doctor or other health provider to order a blood test that measures their iron levels in a particular way.
If the result on that test—called a ferritin test—is low, it's important to increase iron in the diet.
In addition to its well-known role in helping red blood cells perform the critical function of ferrying oxygen around the body, iron helps your body make the molecules that are needed to make key brain chemicals.
Specifically, iron plays an important role in how your body makes the neurotransmitters called serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine—all of them important in mental health.
Research suggests a connection between low iron levels and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia, Levin and Gattari write.
Low iron levels are also known to be associated with fatigue.
A review of the evidence in 2013 showed iron supplementation was associated with improvement in mental health symptoms in three studies published before that year, and others showed improvements in thinking ability.
Multiple studies in people with and without mental health diagnoses have showed improvements in mood and fatigue after iron supplementation, even if they didn't meet the criteria for iron-deficiency anemia. One study showed improvement in half of those whose ferritin was below 100 nanograms/milliliter, which is above the level of 30 ng/ml often used to define iron deficiency.
In general, Levin says, it may be better to aim toward a ferritin level of 100 ng/ml and to get tests every 4 to 6 weeks.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Low lead.....................
I have the opposite problem. Too much iron. Apparently, it is a genetic problem.
I promise to start taking my multivitamins again
Yeah. The practice of injecting it into carefully selected people should resume.
Over here, if your memory is getting rusty.
Vegans are all crazy. A little bit of red meat might help them.
Have you tried donating blood? That lowers ferritin levels.
“Have you tried donating blood? That lowers ferritin levels.”
For some reason, they will not allow people with hemochromotosis to donate blood. When they take a pint from me, it goes in the medical waste bin. I’m having a pint drained next week.
I can concur after I ran into a pullup station in the gym. My head hit right into the bar. So in this case the low hanging iron bar caused me problems and some memory loss for a little bit.
Little known: Feroportin is the transmitter of iron, both from the intestine into the blood, and from the blood into cells. Iron in the blood is toxic. The liver monitors blood iron, and releases hepcidin when iron levels are to high. Hepcidin inhibits the transporting action of feroportin, and limits the import of new iron. Feroportin also limits the import of iron into cells.
With leaky gut excess iron can flood the blood from the intestines. The liver responds with copious amounts of hepcidin. The hepcidin’s action inhibits the import of iron into cells, but does little to stem the iron flow from the leaky gut into the blood.
What foods contain Iron?
What foods contain Iron?
~~~~~
Beef, spinach, quinoa...
broccoli
spinach
lentils
red meat
Everybody eating chicken now instead of high iron beef...
It really is astonishing how little we the public get for our money of medical research...
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