Drinking black tea with meals

Red wine during meals inhibits the absorption of iron

Anything with tannins, tea, coffee, walnuts and calcium as in milk, cheese, yoghurt, and a small glass of red wine, etc is supposed to help reduce the uptake of iron.  It is not encouraged by researchers of haemochromatosis to be on a low iron diet.  You will reduce your Hb and become anaemic.  However, avoid any foods and supplements that contain iron.

You should not be waiting till your ferritin reaches 1000 before taking action.  However a transferrin saturation % >45 (female) is indicative of hereditary haemochromatosis.  This should be investigated further, as your high ferritin may be being caused by something else.

 

Hi Marie13049

I was told when diagnosed 18 months ago that diet would make no difference to my iron levels (I'm C282Y homozygous). Did fortnightly venesections for 3 months, & now trying to establish a routine. In the last 3 months I have tried to modify my diet to include lots of anti-oxidants, reduce red meat to almost nothing, and include all the foods recommended by the Haemochromatosis support groups in Australia & US. Walnuts, almonds, berries, eggs, cheese, yogurt everyday, and eating vitamin C foods at different times to iron rich foods. Lots of salad, tinned tuna & salmon, chicken, curry with turmeric at least once a week. Also coffee 3 per day, a small glass of red wine with dinner, and a little bit of dark chocolate everyday (*smile*).  I'm only one person trying this, and there may be other factors at work here, but my ferritin and t-sat figures have hardly gone up since Feb. Having said that, my Hb is at the low end of normal & I'm feeling a bit tired, so going back onto red meat twice a week now. Also my arthritic fingers are very sore, but I suspect that could be a gluten reaction as I have been a bit slack about bread recently. I had muscle soreness/aches and am taking electrolytes & magnesium, and using Elmore Oil. I have food intolerance to lots of food additives, so in effect my diet is fresh food! In short, on this diet I thought I was feeling HH symptoms by the end of 3 months, but my iron levels in fact seem to be under control, and the symptoms (fatigue, arthritis, muscle aches) may well be due to other factors affecting a nearly-60 yo female with food intolerances! Psychological influence should not be under-estimated, it's easy to think I'm feeling lousy due to HH when in fact I'm short of sleep.  In your situation, I reckon you will definitely need venesection to get your ferritin etc down to "normal" levels, and it's not worth messing about with this as the liver/heart/pancreas damage could be permenant if you levels go high for too long... Good luck! Keep smiling. mm:-)

I use tea in my smoothies, soups, Rice, etc. more then I drink it.  I am fearful that the caffeine will make me dependent on caffeine the same as people are addicted to coffee.  the caffeine is a stimulant.  A lot of people cannot get their day started without their caffeine fix.   Also I wonder what other nutrients are being prevented from being absorbed with the use of Black tea and dairy products which ,from what I understand, coats the protein that is eaten with the same meal as the dairy.   Maybe this is one of the reasons that so many people are still feeling fatigued after the iron comes down to normal.  Maybe after depleting the body by having so many phlebotomies (which depletes the body of other nutrients along with the iron) and the coating of protein with dairy, along with whipping the tired horse with caffeine. we may be malnourished due to the immune system weakening which leads to other problems.

I use tea in my smoothies, soups, Rice, etc. more then I drink it.  I am fearful that the caffeine will make me dependent on caffeine the same as people are addicted to coffee.  the caffeine is a stimulant.  A lot of people cannot get their day started without their caffeine fix.   Also I wonder what other nutrients are being prevented from being absorbed with the use of Black tea and dairy products which ,from what I understand, coats the protein that is eaten with the same meal as the dairy.   Maybe this is one of the reasons that so many people are still feeling fatigued after the iron comes down to normal.  Maybe after depleting the body by having so many phlebotomies (which depletes the body of other nutrients along with the iron) and the coating of protein with dairy, along with whipping the tired horse with caffeine. we may be malnourished due to the immune system weakening which leads to other problems.