Too Much Iron, Not Anemia, Problem in US--Study

WASHINGTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - American doctors have been trained to relentlessly check patients for anemia, but most older people may have too much iron in their bodies rather than too little, researchers said on Thursday.

Nearly 13% of volunteers checked as part of an ongoing heart disease study had too much iron, while only 3% had low stores putting them at risk of anemia, the researchers reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Having too much iron in the blood can put people at risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Several studies have shown that people in industrialized nations who regularly donate blood, thus depleting iron stores somewhat, have a lower risk of heart attack.

Diana Fleming and colleagues at Tufts University in Boston and Boston University studied 1,016 people aged 67 to 96 who have been taking part in the long-range Framingham Heart Study.

They said older people eating a standard Western diet, which is rich in red meat and thus in iron, seem to get plenty of iron. Supplements that contain extra iron may be dangerous, the researchers said.