Iron in the Blood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_iron_metabolism


Everything you wanted to know about iron and the human body is probably addressed at that webpage.

I have read that high iron levels can be dangerous, but claim no expertise, and so will not attempt to describe what i have read (and that was more than ten years ago, anyway).

This site details what are claimed to be the dangers of high iron levels in the blood.

High iron levels are long-term troubling.

Low iron levels--anemia--are immediately distressing and inconvenient. Tired, tired, tired--and cranky to boot.

Iron provides the vehicle for red blood cells to transport oxygen. Anemia is interior strangulation.

If one goes to Wikipedia and looks for ferritin, the name of the protein structure which carries iron in the blood stream, one gets a little more information than the "everything you wanted to know" found in the other article.

According to that Wikipedia article, the normal range results of a cardiology iron blood level test:

Normal blood levels:

Male: 12-300ng/mL
Female: 12-150ng/mL
Cost: $US 85
How to lower/raise: avoid or eat foods rich in iron: eggs, liver, red meat, soy products

source: Beyond Cholesterol, Julius Torelli MD, 2005 ISBN 0-312-34863-0 p.84