Iron Status May Be Missing Link in Wide Array of Degenerative Diseases

Previous research has suggested that the degenerative effects of many diseases and toxicological insults converge on iron dysregulation.  Reporting that : “Exposure to a variety of toxins and/or infectious agents leads to disease, degeneration and death, often characterised by circumstances in which cells or tissues do not merely die and cease to function but may be more or less entirely obliterated,” Douglas Kell, from the University of Manchester (United Kingdom), asks whether “there may be at least some unifying mechanisms of such cell death and destruction.”  He suggests that suggests the majority of debilitating illnesses are, in part, caused by poorly-bound iron, which may lead to the production of dangerous toxins, called hydroxyl radicals, which react with cells and tissues in the body and lead to degenerative diseases.  Professor Kell makes the argument that links many different diseases with the presence of the wrong form of iron, and gives a crucial clue as to how to prevent or slow the process down.