Iron Levels May Reflect How Long You Live
Intriguing link between blood iron levels and longevity.
Michael Hunter MD
Michael Hunter MD
Jan 23 · 4 min read
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Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash
A progressive drop in our ability to maintain homeostasis (stable equilibrium between physiological elements) marks human aging, leading to the onset of age-related diseases and ultimately death. As you know, there is significant variability among individuals. Some of us develop chronic diseases earlier in life, while others can live to an extraordinary age (often without significant illness until very late in life). Before we look at the iron and longevity connection, let’s take a quick turn to aging.
The New England Centenarian Study is a longitudinal look at centenarians, designed to determine if they may be a model of healthy human aging. The majority of these long-lived individuals appeared to delay high-risk diseases markedly. Others suffered from chronic age-related disorders for many years, a phenomenon more common among women than men. Those who achieve extreme ages (at least 107 years) appear to compress morbidity and disability to the very ends of their lives.
There can be a vital inherited genetics component to extreme longevity. While each genetic modifier may have only modest effects, it can significantly influence longevity in aggregate. Environment, lifestyle, and chance all play roles too. Some researchers believe that the genetic component accounts for perhaps only 10 percent of the human lifespan. Given this small contribution, it has been challenging to study the genetics of age. Fortunately, the study we will look at today is massive.
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Photo by Alexis Fauvet on Unsplash
Did you know that the level of iron in your blood may influence how long you will live? I recently stumbled across a massive study that recently reported that blood iron levels might play a role in our life length. While studies looking at variables and longevity always come with many caveats, the 2020 investigation we look at today was massive and included genetic information from over one million individuals.
This innovative research study looked at three essential measures of aging, including 1) lifespan; 2) healthspan (years lived free of disease); and 3) longevity (living to extreme old age). Ten key gene regions appeared related to these measures. Also, gene sets associated with how we process iron were related to longevity. University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom) researchers offer that:
Having too much iron in the blood appears associated with the risk of dying earlier.
You might retort that association does not imply causation, and you would be spot-on in your observation. The study authors used statistical manipulation (Mendelian randomization) to try to reduce bias and attempt to infer causation in the data.
Inherited genetics may have an approximately 10 percent influence on lifespan and healthspan. The massive size of this study helps scientists discover genes that may play a role in our longevity. Noting these hypothesis-generating findings regarding iron metabolism and length of life, might we someday see drugs that lower our iron levels to increase longevity?
All of this represents utter speculation, I think, so please take that provocative question with the grain of salt it deserves. I find it also interesting that blood iron levels are associated with age-related diseases, including Parkinson’s and liver disease.
Iron overload (or challenges breaking down iron) may influence how long (and how well) we live. I end with no call to action but thank you for joining me in exploring the provocative findings of this million-person study.
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