Question: Why would ferritin be extremely high when transferrin saturation is low?
Ferritin as a potential indicator of iron overload should not be anywhere near the level that was set to try to rule in biopsy provable hemochromatosis that is just a profoundly negligent approach to setting the range for ferritin. Now, I think part of what has stopped, you know— This mostly is a problem of the binary diagnostic mindset of conventional medicine. So, I'm not saying that this mindset is not useful. It is tremendously useful, but too many people confuse it for a reality when in fact it is a reality distortion filter meant to more efficiently triage people through various treatments or nontreatments.
It may be inflammation as you very well tried to feather out. And if it's not that, it's probably oxidative stress. So, I’m not gonna say that’s the only other thing it could be. And for the record, you cannot rule out hemochromatosis genetics with 23andMe or any other genetic test by anyone because there are a small percentage of hemochromatosis genetics that are not in the HFE genes and no one has a panel for them. And so, it’s improbable that it’s hemochromatosis based on 23andMe. You can’t rule it out, but I would say it’s probably not hemochromatosis because his iron is low. And so, you know, I'm highly suspicious of oxidative stress, which also upregulates ferritin. If you have Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet, I would measure everything in the oxidative stress section.
If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, a private discussion group, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass/ and use the code QANDA to get 10% off the membership for life. For the remainder of 2020, I will be working full-time on finishing my Vitamins and Minerals 101 book, while reserving a portion of my time for consulting clients. You can pre-order my book at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/book. You can sign up for a consultation at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/consultations
DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice.
Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.
