How To Raise A Low Iron Or Other Mineral Level

I'm often asked how to raise an individual mineral level. For example, someone will come to me and say that they have been told they have a low iron level based on a blood or hair mineral analysis and they would like to raise it. This is obviously a good goal but a far more complicated process than simply supplementing with the mineral in question and yet this is EXACTLY what most people will do. The end result is often frustration and the creation of other mineral imbalances in the body.

The most important concept to understand is that of antagonism. Antagonism can be defined as the inhibiting or nullifying action of one substance on another. Simply put this means that one mineral will cancel out or block the action of another. This is probably the most important nutritional concept and yet it is almost universally unrecognized or acknowledged in the medical world at a clinical and applicable level.

What you are looking at here is the mineral wheel. Farmers understand this very well as the health and survival of their fields and crops depends on it. Iron (Fe) is located at the two o'clock position. The lines pointing away from it indicate the antagonistic effects that are related to iron. Some are more powerful than others but the net result is that if any of these minerals are too high they will have the effect of keeping iron down. This would be important if you are trying to raise your iron wouldn't it? It is essentially the difference between treating the cause of the problem verses just treating the symptom.

Let's look at copper (Cu) which is located just below iron to show how complicated treating an iron deficiency can be. It turns out copper is a big deal with iron levels as copper overload has become a significant problem with many people. Logically if copper is affecting our ability to use iron we would want to get rid of the excess copper so what is causing this excess? Well it could be any of the minerals that affect copper such as zinc, sulphur, phosphorus magnesium or manganese. If these are low then copper will be high proportionately. The fix for the iron problem would then be raising these minerals to lower copper which in turn will raise the iron. Complicated yet fascinating when you know what you are doing.

Another example with our copper affecting iron would be the group of compounds called the xenoestrogens. Essentially these compounds mimic estrogren and trick the body into thinking they are estrogen. The net effect is that "estrogen" rises and this has the effect of retaining excess copper in the body. Once again when our copper is high our iron is low. The fix here would be to eliminate the xenoestrogens. This can be a challenge as they are everywhere and consist of plastics, hormones, metals, and petroleum products but it can be done.

So getting back to our patient with low iron we now need to look at diet as our food is where we get our minerals from. If you refer back to our mineral wheel you will see that calcium lowers iron. Dairy can lower the absorption of iron by as much as 60% and these patients would be well advised to consider lowering their dairy intake at least while they are trying to raise their iron level.

Stomach acid is also important to be able to absorb and use iron. It turns out that we need good strong stomach acidity to ionise iron into a form our body can use. This can help to explain why so many people that are taking drugs to lower stomach acid can have iron problems.

Yet another factor to consider is the vitamin wheel. For example Vitamin D enhances the absorption of calcium and the calcium then blocks iron. Cobalt, a part of vitamin B12, competes with iron absorption. Low vitamin C can be related to high copper and as we know this then causes low iron.

So, what is one to do? The answer is not to take iron, or at least not alone. This is a very short sighted solution as you can now see. The answer is to consult with a professional who truly understands the intricate interactions between diet and environment, and between minerals and vitamins. This professional can then help you develop an individual and personalised approach to treating the causes and not simply the symptoms.