Morley has shared before in his Iron Toxicity Post #9 about the relationship between iron and mag, but the connection may not have been fully obvious unless you read on.
This quote from the paper he mentions gives you a little insight…
“This key feature leads us to postulate that when iron accumulates, chelatable iron replaces magnesium at the corresponding metal-binding site, promoting selective damage to these proteins.”
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18280258/
Chelate just means bonds between things – so what he is saying is, when there is an accumulation of iron, it can end up bonding to the same sites as magnesium should be present at.
Magnesium – has two electrons to donate… (source)
Iron – also has two electrons to donate…(source)
So, when we consider Morley’s quoted figure of 3,571 proteins in the body that require magnesium to do their work… if iron accumulates in these positions within proteins and this damages them…what do you think that means for those proteins? They can no longer work.
What about those individuals who get more and more build up of iron from the food we eat, supplements we take and environment? Less and less places for magnesium to be stored and bonded to proteins, and more and more inflammation to be present within the body.
The proteins cannot do their job and the body will switch off the functions and over time, go more and more into survival mode. This may be activating gene mutations (have you heard of the MTHFR gene?) or could be reactions happening to food or the environment, auto-immune conditions like diabetes, or so many other things.
If there isn’t sufficient magnesium, then inflammation becomes more and more prevalent.
Places where iron is stored and normally wouldn’t have it, also are irritated and inflamed. But now there’s insufficient magnesium to offset it, chronic inflammation sets in.
Consider this – first stop adding extra iron in from non-food sources (supplements and fortifications!!), build up magnesium stores in the body and find ways to support less stress sources so you don’t lose mag due to the fight-flight responses too!
Most importantly, focus on helping the body to get the iron recycling system happening as it should within the body – it’ll make sure that iron and magnesium are in the places it’s needed inside the body by building the iron-copper transport protein ceruloplasmin in the blood… eventually this will in turn end up with you working to gently relocate the excess iron OUT of the body via things like blood donations… the body will transform from an inflamed and irritated vessel with lots of symptoms, to one that has bioavailable iron for the jobs it needs, but not with excess causing inflammation, and causing us to burn through magnesium at a faster rate than we can replenish!
It’s also important to consider that we need to build up our magnesium intake (GRADUALLY!) to provide enough magnesium to build up stores, not just maintain levels.
But my iron results are always low?
Are they? Have you been told you have anemia, low ferritin or low hemoglobin? Have you supplemented with iron yet it never goes up?
Do you understand what your results actually mean?
The more you supplement, the more it doesn’t seem to help (or to ‘last’), so the more medications you need to be on to support the new diagnoses you are constantly getting?
Does your healthcare professional understand what ceruloplasmin is and how critical it is?
Have they tested your full iron panel, serum copper, serum ceruloplasmin, RBC Magnesium and understand how they relate? Do they take the time to explain it to you and discuss it?
If the answer is no, maybe you should consider watching the video of Morley Robbins on his website.
Get the right testing, empower yourself and don’t just blindly take things without understanding what is going on.
We can help you with the right testing, conversations to help you understand how it connects to your symptoms and getting a plan to help you move forward. We can help you translate this information into relevant information for your own circumstance. Find out more here.