The basics of heme iron supplementation and therapy

Natural heme iron from meat products

Iron bound to natural

hemoglobin or myoglobin

Non-heme iron from plants, dairy and syntethic iron supplements Otherwise chemically bonded iron

There are only two forms of bio-available iron

All regular supplements are syntethic.

They feauture chemically bonded iron such as Ferrous Sulphate.

Heme iron supplements are made with natural bovine hemoglobin.

There are two pathways for dietary iron. Heme iron, which is found in all meat products, is absorbed efficiently and

neatly as a whole unit.

The other kind is simply non-heme iron and has to be broken down in the gut before the iron can be absorbed.

Most of the highly reactive free iron ions remain in the gut and can cause

side-effects such as constipation, diarrhoea and stomach cramps.

The uptake of non-heme iron is also positively or negatively affected

by other foods consumed simultaneously.

Heme iron is natural for man and still is the best and most efficient way of absorbing

the iron we all need to live and for our bodies to function properly.

In a normal diet heme iron from meat products plays a large role.

The regular iron supplements today are syntethic and often produce

gastro-intestinal side-effects which in many cases terminate

the important therapy

In studies the incidence of side-effects with heme iron products is at

placebo level.

The mechanism of uptake for heme iron does not leave free iron ions in the gut that may cause disturbancies and are

potentially carcinogenous.

Pure hemolyzed hemoglobin powder as raw material for iron substitution

has been of interest in Sweden since the early seventies.

This is by far the best-tolerated and efficient form of iron.

Over the years the raw material has been developed and used in a

number of products.

Bovine and porcine hemoglobin in food supplement tablets have been in use in Scandinavia since the 1970-ies with no serious side

effects ever reported and no cases of poisoning in

literally millions of users.

Efficacy is good and there is an extremely good record of tolerance.

Unlike non-heme iron, absorption is not affected by other chelating components of the diet such as phytates, tannates

and phosphate.

Heme iron will always be absorbed

- in all clinical situations.

Heme iron is absorbed from the beginning of the intestine,

which means it will work also for patients, who have had

gut surgery.

The uptake and tolerance of heme iron will not change even over a longer time period.

This is good news for chronics, since non-heme iron will usually give problems with uptake sooner or later.

This means another form of therapy must be considered.

There is a large number of chronics in various diseases with anaemia.

These are for instance Chronic kidney disease, Inflammatory bowel disease and Coronary heart disease.

Chronics usually receive regular syntethic oral non-heme tablets in high

doses until treatment fails due to side-effects.

The remaining alternative is very expensive and inconvenient intravenous

iron.

There are potential risks with repeated iron injections over a longer period of time: overdosing and increased

oxidative stress.

The OptiFer® series of iron food supplements are safe, efficient and very well tolerated, which is crucial for therapy success.

They give an optimal dose and can be used over longer periods with no change in efficacy and tolerance.

OptiFer® products compete favorably with the regular synthetic supplements.

Please feel free to contact us. We are looking for international distributorswww.meditec.se/FerroCare.html www.hemeiron.com

OptiFer® tablets are based on natural bovine heme iron and will safely and

efficiently keep iron counts at an optimal level