Introduction
An essential part to healthy living and Paleo is making sure that you are getting the right amount of key nutrients. One such element is iron.1 Maintaining a proper balance of iron in the body is crucial to ensure the body can make red blood cells.1 Red blood cells act as oxygen carriers taking oxygen from the lungs to your body’s tissues. In cases where a shortage of iron exists, an anemia occurs. Extreme fatigue due to decreased ATP energy production from the insufficient amount of red blood cells,2 is a key symptom. Ward anemia away by including Paleo friendly food options rich in iron, such as meat, poultry, fish, spinach, and almonds.1
Healthy people naturally lose about 0.5 to 2 mg of iron daily.2 So how does the body regulate iron? Hepcidin, a hormone produced in the liver, serves as the main regulator of iron homeostasis.3 When a person consumes food rich in iron, it enters the body via the intestine. When there is iron supply depletion, the body has a symbiotic mechanism, through the release of hepcidin, which encourages iron absorption.3 The same is also seen with infections or inflammation in the body. On the other hand when iron concentration increases, the liver releases hepcidin, which inhibits absorption.3
The Research Study
Earlier research studies focused upon the mechanism of uptake through the intestinal epithelial cells. Recent research from France shows that the actual intestinal microbiota, the bacteria within the gut, may play a more meaningful role in the process.4
In a controlled study, researchers removed the intestinal microbiota from mice. In another group, the mice were later colonized with a controlled microbiota. In the germ free group, the mice had low iron supplies whereas the mice with microbiota present in the intestine exhibited high levels of iron supply, with the presence of ferritin, the iron storage protein and increased levels of ferroportin, the iron transporter protein, which distributes iron in the body.
Researches also saw that certain commensal organisms (Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron VPI-5482 and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii A2-165) and a probiotic strain (Streptococcus thermophilus LMD-9) resulted in an increase of 12-fold induction of ferritin in the colon.
Based on these results, the researchers concluded that microbiota in the intestine leads to transformation of the intestinal cells. This encourages them to allocate iron around the body and store it.
