YouTube videos expose iron shavings in corn flakes

A series of YouTube videos (with English subtitles) from a Netherlands TV show is making its way across cyberspace and creating a major stir among food and health officials after documenting how the giant Kellogg’s Special K breakfast cereal has been “fortified” with pieces of actual metallic iron.

The expose  came October 15 on the Dutch television show Keuringsdienst van Waarde. The show provided evidence that the iron was not nutritional ionic iron – as it occurs in natural foods like spinach – but was in fact metallic iron. The iron is so prevalent that a corn chip floating in a bowl of water can be moved by a magnet. And when the magnet is put into a blended mix of cereal, so much iron is drawn out of the cereal that it actually accumulates on the magnet and can be brushed off into pile of shavings that can be seen. Dutch officials later claimed it found no health risks and that such iron powder is suitable for human consumption.

The ridiculously high and obesity-causing amounts of sugar that is added to many breakfast cereals has been long documented.

But over the long run, say many health experts, it is iron – actual bits and flecks of iron – that can wreak perhaps the most havoc with the body’s internal organs. Other parts of the world are well aware of this, despite the “no big deal” assessment by Dutch officials after the TV expose. The country of Denmark has outlawed Kellogg’s products since 2004. Danish health officials banned the cereal because, as they claimed, Kellogg’s wanted to add extremely high levels of vitamin B6, calcium, folic acid and iron, which would reach toxic levels when eaten on a daily basis. Young children risk liver and kidney damage, while the fetuses of pregnant women can suffer complications from the toxins.

A rapidly growing and vocal group of medical doctors and patient advocates here in the U.S. is saying such iron “fortification” of our food is completely unnecessary for most people and, indeed, may actually cause more harm than good. In fact, for a significant portion of the population – 1 in every 200 people in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – that extra iron is outright dangerous. That’s because they suffer from a genetic disease that causes the body to absorb and store too much iron called hereditary hemochromatosis.

But what amazes me is how American media has largely ignored this story. Check out these videos from the Netherlands. Visit the website of the American Hemochromatosis Society. Read the WebMD entry on HH. There are so many stories about this and so many examples of excess iron being added to our foods.

We all get iron from the food we get and normally the body absorbs approximately 10% of the iron found in foods. People with hereditary hemochromatosis, or HH as it is called, absorb double that amount.

The excess iron is stored throughout the body in organs and tissues including the pancreas, liver, and skin. Without treatment, the iron deposits can damage these organs and tissues. Without treatment, the disease can cause these organs to fail. It can be fatal.

Joint pain is the most common complaint of people with hemochromatosis. Other common symptoms include fatigue, lack of energy, abdominal pain, loss of sex drive, and heart problems. Symptoms tend to occur in men between the ages of 30 and 50 and in women over age 50. However, many people have no symptoms when they are diagnosed.

If the disease is not detected early and treated, iron may accumulate in body tissues and may eventually lead to serious problems such as:

• arthritis
• liver disease, including an enlarged liver, cirrhosis, cancer, and liver failure
• damage to the pancreas, possibly causing diabetes
• heart abnormalities, such as irregular heart rhythms or congestive heart failure
• impotence
• early menopause
• abnormal pigmentation of the skin, making it look gray or bronze
• thyroid deficiency
• damage to the adrenal gland

How much iron does Kellogg and other companies put in our food? Why? Was it ever necessary? What kind of iron is it?

There are millions of people suffering from this disease. Seems to be a pretty good story just waiting to be told here.

Personal disclosure: My wife has hereditary hemochromatosis. Her brother has it, and almost died. It destroyed his liver to the point where he needed a transplant. It gave him diabetes.