Media Coverage of Iron-related Health
- New York Times: Personal Health: Iron Overload
- Internal Medicine News
- BENCH TO BEDSIDE: The Toxicity of Excess Dietary Iron (Reprinted from Dartmouth Medicine)
The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved marketing of the drug, Lybrel, for oral contraception. Lybrel contains a combination of hormones and is meant to be taken daily to eliminate menstruation altogether. The second web site below states that "Most doctors think it is okay to go without a period."
The iron hypothesis of disease is based on observations as discussed in the Problem of Iron Excess. Protection against diseases of menopause may be due to maintenance of relatively low levels of body iron during the pre-menopausal years because of regular menstrual blood loss. Termination of menstruation for prolonged lengths of time may place young women at premature risk of iron accumulation and diseases of menopause.
The philosophical issue is the attitude that views menstruation in a subjective take-it-or-leave-it manner rather than as part of the “natural order” of healthy human biology. Listing potential side effects of this drug hardly compensates for lack of appreciation of broader questions about the role of iron in disease.
