According to researchers from the University of Copenhagen, the answer may lie in your cell metabolism. There are proteins in your body known as iron-transport proteins, and these try to help your body by carrying iron to where it needs to go and storing it in your blood. However, iron-transport proteins also create toxic oxygen radicals in your blood, which can damage tissue, such as the beta cells in your pancreas, and this causes diseases like type 2 diabetes. Therefore, the scientists found that mice without this particular iron transporter were more protected against type 2 diabetes.
It is known from large-population studies of humans with diabetes that there is a link between excessive levels of iron in your blood and diabetes risk, but these researchers were the first to find a link between damaging inflammation and iron transport, which appears to be the underlying cause of the higher risk. In a release, researcher Thomas Mandrup-Poulsen, MD explained that the next step is to determine whether changing the iron content in your body can reduce your risk of diabetes, as ‘Only then will we be able to advise people at risk of diabetes not to take iron supplements, or recommend drug treatment to reduce the amount of iron in the body’.
There are also other possible applications of this research to heart and liver wellness, as cardiac-muscle and liver cells are also sensitive to iron. However, the National Institutes of Health says that iron is still essential to deliver oxygen to cells and regulate cell growth and differentiation, yet too much can cause iron toxicity, an acute condition that causes nausea, vomiting, damage to internal organs, and even death. Therefore, you should not dip below or exceed the recommended levels of 18 mg of iron per day for women and 8 mg for men.