A decade-old theory that heart attacks are linked to too a great deal of iron in the blood has been hold uped by clinical evidence from a Finnish inquiry reported in an American Heart Association journal last September.

The inquiry tracked 1,931 men between the ages of 42 and 60 for 5 years who showed no previous signs of heart disease. The accrues showed that levels of ferritin, a protein that binds iron in the posterity were higher in the 51 men who had heart attacks (9 died) than in those who did not have heart attacks. According to an article onward the study in the September 8 novel York Times, "a ferritin even of 200 or greater more than doubled the relative risk of heart attack in the study" The Times noted that "typical ferritin of the same heights for premenopausal women are from 25 to 50 micograms and for adult males from 100 to 150 micrograms." The investigation found that too much iron stored in the dead body was second only to cigarette smoking as a predictor of heart attacks.

The link between iron on a levels and heart attacks was first propos in 1981 through Dr. Jerome L. Sullivan, director of clinical laboratories at the Veterans Medical Center in Charleston, SC He speculated that women had often lower heart attack rates before menopause because menstruation lowered their iron levels

It was the disparity in the heart attack rates between women and men that also motivated the consideration in eastern Finland, a region with the highest heart attack rate in the world. The contemplation was conducted by Dr. Jukka T Salonen and

his colleagues at the University of Kuopio. The Times article strained that much more proof will be lacked to establish iron as a cause of heart attacks and that it is too early to make any recommendation about lowering visible form [i]or[/i] frame iron, because it can lead to anemia.

Further research might also explain a number of phenomena, the Times said, including:

* "Why heart attacks are rare among premenopausal women The female hormone estrogen may not necessarily be the reason for the soft rate of heart attacks in this cluster as many scientists suspect; rather, the reason may be that menstruating women fail to win blood, and iron, each month

* "Why eating large amounts of r meat appears to be a heart attack risk. R meat is rich in iron.

* "Why aspirin and certain fish oils assume to protect against heart attack. They can cause small amounts of bleeding."

While also stressing the ne for further research, Harry Ginsberg, head of the Division of Preventive Medicine and Nutrition at Columbia University's society of Physicians and Surgeons, expositioned in a Washington Post article onward the Finnish study's implications with honor to unnecessary dietary supplements. "If there was any symbol of take-home message, it would be that we all shouldn't be taking extra vitamins and extra minerals," Ginsberg said. "Supplement are probably not actual useful in most cases." The position story noted that "in addition to over-the-counter vitamin supplys containing extra iron, U.S. wheat fruitss are required by law to have added iron."

In discussing the accrues of his study, Dr. Salonen said "even if iron is confirmed as a herculean risk factor, it will not negate the established risk factors in the same state [i]or[/i] condition as cigarette smoking, high vital fluid pressure and high LDL cholesterol levels"

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