Link between iron overload and macular degeneration under study

The most common - and under-diagnosed - genetic disease in humans just may be a cause of the worst form of macular degeneration, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.

They are pursuing a link between hemochromatosis, which results in iron overload, and the wet form of macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people 60 and older. They suspect that too much iron, known to wreak cumulative havoc on the body's organs, hastens normal aging of the eyes.

If they are correct, avoiding the most severe consequences of a disease that robs the central vision could be as simple as donating blood a couple times annually to reduce iron levels, said Dr. Vadivel Ganapathy, chairman of the MCG School of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

A $1.5 million grant from the National Eye Institute is enabling the MCG scientists to define the impact of hemochromatosis on the eye's form and function. Support from MCG's Vision Discovery Institute is enabling screening for its causative genetic mutation in the blood of healthy individuals and those with macular degeneration.

"If this is a predisposing risk for macular degeneration, we have a very useful tool for screening patients," said Dr. Julian Nussbaum, a retinal specialist who chairs the School of Medicine's Department of Ophthalmology and co-directs MCG's Vision Discovery Institute. "We can give patients information right off the bat that may help them."

While linking iron overload to eye disease may seem odd, they have in common the result of too much of a good thing. The eyes need light to see and the body needs iron to deliver oxygen but the price of both is increased oxidative stress, Ganapathy said. "You need oxygen and you need iron to make this bad molecule," he said of oxygen radicals that can destroy tissue down to the DNA.

Light alone takes a slow toll on the retina, which converts it into electrical impulses sent to the brain via the optic nerve. This is despite multiple built-in safeguards such as filters in the cornea and lens that protect against the most harmful rays, like ultraviolet light, and a yellow pigment that provides extra protection for the most central point of vision. Retinal pigmented epithelial cells, which nourish sight-enabling cells in the retina, help gobble up and dump any resulting tissue trash into the circulation for elimination. Leftovers show up as fatty, yellow deposits called drusen.

Everyone experiences some age-related vision changes and accumulation of harmless levels of drusen, Nussbaum said. But when byproducts start accumulating under the retinal pigment epithelium, the risk increases for the wet form of macular degeneration in which fragile new blood vessels grow underneath the retina, leak and cloud vision. The question is why some people's condition worsens.

"We see it in one patient and it may stay that way for 20 years. We see it in another patient and within five years their vision has functionally started to decrease," said Dr. Emory Patterson, an MCG School of Medicine graduate completing his ophthalmology residency at MCG who is helping with the clinical study. Ganapathy first determined that the eye had the means to tightly regulate iron levels. Most organs don't have their own system rather the small intestine regulates absorption of the iron consumed in foods like beans and tofu.

But Ganapathy found the same genetic mutation that causes hemochromatosis in a back layer of the retina, which comes in contact with the blood. A mutation in this HFE gene impairs a protein that regulates iron absorption. The finding in the mouse eye and human retinal pigmented epithelial cells was published in 2004 in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

His lab now has animal models for hemochromatosis as well as juvenile hemochromatosis, which is caused by a different genetic defect and produces much earlier symptoms. In the retina of the models, he's finding increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factors, or VEGF, that enable new blood vessel growth. This growth is the hallmark of the wet form of macular degeneration. In fact, anti-VEGF therapies are the most potent treatments available.

"I tell patients that caught early, they have a 92 percent chance of stabilizing their vision with anti-VEGF therapy but they only have about a 38 percent chance of improving their vision," Nussbaum said. "But at least we can treat it. I also remind them there is not a cure. It's similar to cancer therapy: we can put them
into remission but we don't know if it will come back."

Most people absorb about 10 percent of the iron they consume. Symptoms such as joint pain, fatigue, lack of energy, abdominal pain, loss of sex drive and heart problems indicate excess absorption although many with the condition have no symptoms when diagnosed.

Blind women take first in state Women's Club art competition

By Eric Louie
Contra Costa Times

There are things Virginia Macky and Gloria Smith can't do as they lose their eyesight. The two San Ramon Valley women — considered legally blind from macular degeneration — can't drive, and need help for other tasks around the house.

But that didn't stop the two members of the Danville Women's Club from taking top prizes — one for painting and another for sculpture — in this year's California Federation of Women's Clubs statewide art contest.

"I can't really see what I'm doing, so it's Picaso-esque," said Smith, 84, of San Ramon. A longtime painter of realistic landscapes who also ran an art gallery for a few years in Redondo Beach, she spent four months using a magnifying glass to create her watercolor "My Cat Hates Me" from a magazine photograph. It won first place for advanced water color portrait. "I can't see how much paint is on the brush, which is one of the biggest things."

Macky, 81, of Danville, made a papier-mâché sculpture of her children's former dog Mot. She learned the craft last year in a class at a community center.

"We still do everything," said Macky, who worked off and on for years as a department store buyer. "I don't let (my eyesight) stop me."

Macky was diagnosed with macular degeneration in 1994. The incurable eye disease is the leading cause of blindness for Americans 55 and older, affecting more than 10 million Americans, according to the American Macular Degeneration Foundation.

"I can't recognize people from a distance unless I know what they have on," Macky said.

For Smith, the onset of the disease began in 2002. She said her eyesight was not so bad at first, but has gotten worse the past couple years.

"I can't see your face," she said to Macky, sitting across from her at a table during the Danville Women's Club's monthly meeting and lunch. "I can see the shape of your body, but your face is a blur."

To win at the state level, the two first competed in their club's local Mount Diablo district, which includes San Ramon Valley as well as clubs in Lafayette, Brentwood, Stockton and the Tri-Valley. Smith's work was picked for submission to the state from about a dozen, while Macky's was one of about 10, said Anita Carr, a district official. She said the judges — artists who were not in the club — did not know the women were blind.

Neither did the state judges, who picked the winners during the statewide convention last month in Burlingame, said Mary Linn Coleman, with the state federation. Winners got a ribbon and certificate.

"That's interesting," Coleman said upon hearing about the artists' eyesight. "They did an amazing job."

How Drug Muggers Can Slowly Steal the Life Out of You

By Suzy Cohen

Dear Pharmacist,
I bought your Drug Muggers book and learned that coffee is stealing iron from my body. I’ve had chronic fatigue for years, and now that I’m supplementing with the iron, I’m feeling MUCH better, so thank you! I’m not giving up coffee though. Suzy, would you be willing to share more drug muggers, as a public service, because some people can’t afford to buy your book, but they really need your help. --K.M., Kansas City, Kansas

Answer: Yes, of course and I’ve been sharing this information freely since 1999. The drug mugging effect can explain everything from nagging aches to life-threatening diseases. Replenishing the missing nutrient(s) might be just what the doctor should have ordered! Most people don’t know this but years ago, I asked major publishers to make a book out of this information, but none understood the importance of it, and some felt it would step on pharmaceutical toes. So I spent my own savings to publish “Drug Muggers” and now that book is sold at Amazon.com, NaturalNews.com and my own website, www.DearPharmacist.com where I offer free articles on the topic. For now, here are some very common ‘diseases’ that might be due to to the drug mugging effect:

Depression, osteoporosis or irregular heartbeat- It could be caused by a deficiency of the mineral magnesium. Common drug muggers include female hormones, diuretics, raloxifene, tea/coffee, anti-inflammatories and aspirin.

Bald patches, loss of taste/smell, erectile dysfunction or chronic diarrhea- It might be zinc deficiency. Common drug muggers are anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, antacids, ulcer/heartburn meds, diuretics and estrogen drugs used for birth control and menopause.

Leg cramps, muscle spasms, memory loss or fatigue- May be a deficiency of CoQ10 (ubiquinol). This life-sustaining antioxidant gets demolished by hundreds of medications including statin cholesterol drugs, metformin, anti-depressants, beta blockers and diuretics. I’ve posted a “Big List of Drugs that Mug CoQ10” for free at my website.
Cell damage, high homocysteine, cataracts, macular degeneration, liver problems- It could be tied to low glutathione, a powerful antioxidant needed to detoxify poisons in your body. Acetaminophen is a possible drug mugger of glutathione.

Pins and needles nerve pain, depression, fatigue, anemia, weight gain- This could be related to a deficiency of B vitamins. Your stash gets depleted by female hormones (menopause and birth control), antacids, ulcer meds, diuretics, raloxifene, cholestyramine, diabetic drugs, tea/coffee.

If you read this and just said, “Aha!” then get approval from your doctor to supplement, or order “micronutrient” testing. For pennies a day, you can get your life back! If you decide to wait and see if I’m right (and not replenish what the drug mugger is stealing), then expect these so-called side effects to get diagnosed as a new disease. You’ll get on a medication merry-go-round and it’s a hard ride to get off.