What is Iron?
Types of Iron: Heme Iron, Non-Heme Iron What it is: A MINERAL that is essential not only to good health but also to life itself. The bulk of the iron in the human body is in the red blood cells’ hemoglobin; in fact, it is what makes blood red. Hemoglobin shuttles oxygen from the lungs to every body cell, and without iron, hemoglobin cannot do its job. Another compound, myoglobin, grabs iron from hemoglobin and stores it in muscles where it’s crucial to proper muscle function. On hemoglobin’s trip to the lungs, its iron carries carbon dioxide, which we then expel as we exhale. And that’s not all. Iron is part of the chemical makeup of several vital enzymes and proteins and plays a major role in energy metabolism. All dietary iron, however, is not created equal. There are two basic types: heme iron, the easily absorbable form that accounts for 40 percent of the iron in meats, and nonheme iron, the not-so-easily assimilable form present in vegetables. How well the body absorbs it depends
Iron is a metallic chemical element which has been utilized by humans for centuries. The metal has played such an important role in human history that an entire era, the Iron Age, is named for it. There are numerous industrial uses for iron, with the metal often appearing in alloys, and it is also considered a trace element which is vital for human health. You probably interact with iron in numerous alloys and forms every day, since the element is a ubiquitous part of life on Earth. Pure iron is a silvery white, very lustrous metal. It is extremely malleable and ductile, which is one of the reasons it has been used by humans for so long, since iron does not require complex technology to be worked. The metal is identified with the symbol Fe on the periodic table of elements, and it has the atomic number 26. Alloys which contain iron or act like iron are called ferrous metals, in a reference to the Latin ferrum, which means “iron.” This metallic element is generally magnetic, although it
Iron will cause an orange stain on appliances, toilets, sinks and can be very corrosive. Iron filters or water softeners can be used to remove concentrations of iron. It is not considered a health risk, more of an aesthetic problem. Like manganese there are different forms of iron and they need to be treated in different ways. A well test is the best way to tell what kind of iron is in your water and at what concentrations. While iron is not considered a health hazard it can make the water very unpleasant.
Iron is a mineral, an inorganic substance that is derived from the earth. Many minerals, along with vitamins, are essential micro or trace nutrients — essential because the body needs them to carry out specific vital functions, and micro or trace because minute amounts, usually a few milligrams or even less, are all that the body requires. Why is iron important to nutrition? Iron is necessary to make hemoglobin, the pigment in red blood cells that transports oxygen through the bloodstream and removes the carbon dioxide that is given off by cells as a waste product of metabolism. It also forms part of a substance called myoglobin, which is present in the muscles and helps supply oxygen to body tissues. In addition, iron is a component of certain enzymes and proteins.
