Colloidal Iron – A Versatile All-Round Aid
Iron is not only a familiar metal but also one of the essential trace elements that must be supplied to the body regularly. The importance of iron for well-being was known even before the Common Era. Although people more than 2,000 years ago did not have the diagnostic tools available today, they appear to have understood that this trace element was very important for health.
Greek and Egyptian healers already prescribed iron for various physical disorders. Celsus (30–50 BC), for example, used cooling water from a forge for his patients in an attempt to bring the spleen into balance. Many physicians in the Middle Ages also used iron as a remedy. Sydenham (1624–1689) treated a condition known as chlorosis with dissolved iron filings. The term covered symptoms that today are associated with iron deficiency, such as irritability, pale skin, exhaustion and other complaints that were then described as typical 'women's problems'.
Knowledge of the invigorating effects attributed to iron spread through the medical world of the time, so it is not surprising that Rademacher called this trace element a universal remedy in 1841.
The role of iron in metabolism
Your body does not need iron only for blood formation. Hundreds of proteins and enzymes can perform their work only when enough iron is available.
So-called iron-sulfur enzymes make an important contribution to the respiratory chain in muscle cells. They help the muscles function smoothly. If the body lacks urgently needed iron, the muscles tire more quickly, become less resilient and feel weaker. The body may try to signal a problem through muscle cramps.
Iron is important not only for the muscles. The whole body needs this trace element. Iron is required for oxygen transport. Every body cell contains mitochondria, the body's 'power plants', which continually produce energy in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate). To produce ATP, mitochondria in the muscles and other cells need sufficient oxygen.
Iron and the body's defence system
The body's defence system has its own waste-removal system. Phagocytes remove harmful metabolic products and many kinds of intruders. They break down unusable red blood cells and release iron in the process. The text also states that phagocytes need iron of their own to neutralise harmful organisms.
Phagocytes are cells capable of phagocytosis: they engulf, digest and destroy foreign particles in the body, for example microorganisms and dead body cells.
No blood formation without iron
In the bone marrow, the body produces up to 2.5 million red blood cells every second. Each individual blood cell contains about 300 million haemoglobin molecules. To produce them, the body needs a sufficient supply of iron. Iron-containing molecules are used to transport oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body, while carbon dioxide is transported back to the lungs.
The body is also highly efficient at recycling. After roughly 100 days, haemoglobin molecules are broken down and sent to the spleen, where specialised cells process worn-out blood cells. The bound iron is released and becomes available to the body again.
Iron and your skin
The body needs vitamin B2, among other things, for building nucleic acid. It participates in cell renewal and is used in processes connected with wounds and inflammation. The text states that sufficient iron must be available for the body to use this important vitamin.
Iron and happiness
In our culture, horseshoes are associated with good luck. The text links iron with the neurotransmitters involved in feelings such as happiness, optimism and euphoria.
It states that iron is needed when the body converts certain proteins into neurotransmitters such as noradrenaline and also discusses dopamine in connection with motivation and everyday drive.
