Supplementing iron

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Anyone know why you'd do this? Or at least what gear would require it?

I ask because a couple if weeks ago a guy who competes in over 40s in the States was in my gym and doing cable crossovers his back was as blue as the ocean with oxygen patches.

I got talking to him and he said this was due to the amount of iron he was taking because of what he was on?

I didnt ask further at the time but wish I had done now...
 
Iron aids in the production of red blood cells.


However from my reading supplementing with it will only help create more if you are low in iron. Taking excess in a normal state will do little.


I'm unaware of any AAS that lowers iron levels. Some one else may know ??
 
Although iron is an essential and important nutrient, I'd say you do need to be careful with it as excessive levels can cause significant harm.

High levels or iron can cause damage to the inner lining of blood vessels which basically increase a person's chances of developing hardening of the arteries and if you're running AAS chances are you're going to have an elevated red blood cell count/haemoglobin/haematocrit anyway so you really don't want to be pushing those levels up further.

I'm not aware of any AAS which would lower iron levels, but maybe there is some effect on serum ferritin levels.

 Ferritin is basically an iron carrying protein (the stuff which transports iron around the blood) and when its levels drop below 20 that is usually a sign of an iron deficiency.   However, there are certain conditions which will falsely elevate ferritin levels but not iron levels itself, such as rheumatoid arthritis or other inflammatory conditions.  Perhaps this guy you're talking about was taking iron for another reason or started supplementing with it due to elevated ferritin?

I think if anyone is thinking of supplementing with iron, it's best to get your serum ferritin levels AND iron transference levels checked beforehand, as iron can be a potentially dangerous supplement if you're just popping pills without a good reason.   My iron transference got up to 78% at one point due to the fact I was eating lots of iron rich foods as well as taking a multi-vitamin which included iron.  Not a good situation to be in.

Men are actually more prone to iron overload since women lose some iron every month through menstruation. So we generally have the opposite problem and it's rare for men to need supplemental iron.

If your iron levels or ferritin are elevated, then you can either donate blood (the easiest solution) to bring those levels down, or supplement with IP6 (a form of inositol) which I've done in the past when my iron levels got too high as it acts as a iron chelator (basically helps bind up excess iron and get rid of it). 

On the other hand, if you do find you need more iron, then I'd say it's better to get it from red meat rather than supplementing with it, as red meat contains heme iron which is the most highly available form for absorption.
 
Just logged in to say brilliant post.

Elevated iron levels are not what you want as a male. Time and further research will likely reveal a bigger picture regarding mortality and degenerative illness into old age.

High vit c intake can also have an effect on iron absorption - particularly non-heme, I think.

I avoid iron-rich foods, use multis without iron etc after a ferritin scare in 2009 where my levels were off the chart. Literally.

Turned out to be, inconclusively, a combination of a false positive from my knee operation and chronic resulting arthritis-like symptoms, together with, in hindsight, a silly diet of several pounds of red meat a day.

There were a number of symptoms which led to me getting my bloods done - none of them were pleasant.

As for matey's blue back, isn't that just down to a proliferation of red blood cells from his AAS.
 
righty said:
PS - wasn't aware of IP6. Off to do some reading.

Thanks.
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It's great stuff mate, definitely worth looking into for those who have elevated iron or ferritin levels  - I don't use it all the time, but earlier last year I had some issues with elevated iron levels from being stupid (eating too much red meat, iron rich foods - spinach...etc. + taking a multi vitamin with iron) and it helped me get those levels down effectively.

2g per day on an empty stomach is the dose I used (they usually come in 500mg tablets) as well as avoiding iron rich foods for a while.

I think most degenerative diseases are in some way associated with oxidation and clearly iron, being a metal, is very re-active to oxygen which is bad news if you let it get out of control in just about every way. 

High vitamin C intake is definitely another culprit to elevated iron - something I've been stupid with in the past as well.  These days I tend to just stick with a basic multi-vitamin without iron and a little extra vitamin D.

Not really related to iron, but another great thing to eat for keeping bloods in check is red grapefruit.  1/2 - 1 whole grapefruit per day can help control elevated RBC and haematocrit levels due to a flavonoid (Naringin - the stuff which gives it it's bitter taste). 

Pretty amazing stuff.  

At first I thought this was BS (although there have been studies showing this as the case) - but I remember someone experimented with this and ate grapefruit everyday throughout a 10 week cycle consisting of 1g EQ and 750mg test - but he managed to keep his levels in a healthy range where as traditionally that put his crits up to the mid-high 50's (he posted his blood work before and after).  Since then, I've spoken to others who have shared similar experiences with it and it's probably something worth thinking about for those who are using AAS year around (TRT, blast & cruises...etc.) and don't want to become blood donors in order to control blood levels.
 
Great stuff mate.

Thanks for that.

MP seems to have a good price for IP6.

I did some reading and 2g/day does indeed seem to be where it's at.

As it's in powder form, I'll add it to my daily saw palmetto and CoQ10 powder drink.

I know of a few older BBs who have to donate blood regularly now. Well, I say donate blood. I think it's just drawn and destroyed.

Trying now (wise after the event) to keep iron intake to a minimum (some green veggies only) and stay away from aluminium as well.

That's two cracking posts you made there mate - wish people banging the multis with iron and grams of vit c/day on other boards could see them.

I queried a lad taking 2g vit c daily - asking him why - got my head bitten off, so have left him to die slowly. Lol.
 
Great posts lads :)

So is this blue oxygenness he was getting - unhealthy?

Jay Cutler gets it pretty bad from a few DVDs I've seen.
 
Don't think it's unhealthy as such.

Can think of a few people I've trained with who had sea-blue backs, especially after bench or something heavy lying down - guess blood pools etc.

Sometimes it was patchy. Other times it was the entire upper back.

Pretty cool being a human glow stick.
 
Yeah Ive seen a few times Jay cutler with it, also Dave at my gym has it sometimes.


Also agree with rudedog, Micks post made me LOL.
 
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