Anemia is when the blood does not contain the clinically indicated amount of red blood cells. Insufficient red blood cells prevent the body and its tissues from getting appropriate amounts of oxygen rich blood. Iron-deficiency anemia is the most common form (1). Iron is found in hemoglobin, the protein in your red blood cells that carries oxygen. Its other roles include immune function maintenance, function and contraction of muscles, lung health and respiration, repair of damaged cells and the synthesis of collagen and neurotransmitters.
Iron is absorbed by the digestive tract in two steps:
- First, iron must enter the cells that line the digestive tract. Both heme and non-heme iron can be absorbed. Heme iron has a higher absorption rate than non-heme iron, which is found in grains and vegetables.
- Second, the iron must move out of the cells and into the bloodstream.
The purpose of copper is to prevent oxygen in the body from essentially turning into rust in our cells. It is required for optimal enzyme activity and the transfer of electrons in the cell. The result of a deficiency of copper in the body is oxidative stress known as the formation of free radicals. The concern with inert, bound, iron in the tissues is that it presents a situation for oxygen to be captured and “rust” or oxidize. The ideal state for iron in our body is not stored but mobilized and circulating to carry oxygen to our organs. This is why energy loss is often listed as a symptom that physicians attribute to anemia. Therefore, copper has a vital role in creating balance in the body. It must be able to activate oxygen to create water, release energy and deactivate oxidants. Its role ultimately helps systemically to keep the liver and thyroid functioning properly and to fight against infection in the body.
Another nutrient, calcitriol, should be discussed, as it is the active form of vitamin D (which is really a hormone) and can increase the synthesis of nitric oxide, a gas that naturally functions in the body to open up the ferroportin (FPN) doorway. This is a fancy name for a pathway that iron must pass through in order for it to move out of the cells of the digestive tract and into the bloodstream. Without adequate copper, the synthesis of nitric oxide can allow unregulated iron out.
In Morley Robbins book “Cure Your Fatigue”, he highlights that the concept of iron being used in circulation, not build up in the tissues and organs, is not a principle used to diagnose and treat anemia in western medicine. Low levels taken from blood work only does not address the possibility of iron build up in the tissues. He describes physicians’ approach as looking at iron levels as a “fuel gauge” that are either high or low. Robbins insists that there is a difference between an iron deficiency and an iron dysregulation. The dysregulation is linked to the lack of bioavailable copper and retinol (the animal-based form of Vitamin A) in the modern diet. Retinol makes copper bioavailable and recycles iron. Robbins mentions a study done in 1934 by three physicians from the US who won the noble prize for curing anemia and pernicious (B12) anemia by using beef liver (2). Beef liver happens to be a source of copper, iron and retinol. Copper is catalyzed by retinol making it bioavailable, enabling iron to be functionally used inside the body. He also argues that a lack of bioavailable copper negatively affects the production of globulin (a component of hemoglobulin), the removal of iron from the gut, the proper recycling of iron in the spleen and proper heme production in the bone marrow, resulting in anemia.
The summary is that in order for iron to be functionally used in the body, you must have adequate levels of copper biologically available along with vitamin A. A good source for the necessary nutrients is beef liver.
1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). What is anemia? National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/anemia.
2. Robbins, M. M., Edwards, B., Smith, B. T., & Gadol, K. L. (2021). Cure: Your fatigue: How balancing 3 minerals and 1 protein is the solution that you’re looking for. Gatekeeper Press.
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