However, iron is one of the most essential minerals for your body. However, did you know that it can cause Parkinson’s disease if not taken in the right amount.
In a recent perspective published in the Journal of Clinical ResearchResearchers discussed evidence that challenges a long-standing scientific belief that Parkinson’s disease is typically caused by toxic iron overload in the brain.
They argued instead that the disease could involve a functional iron deficiency, where biologically useful iron is low despite high total iron, and both could coexist with regionally elevated iron signals.
Restoring iron availability, rather than removing iron, could be a possible treatment option.
For decades, abnormal iron accumulation has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, especially in the substantia nigra, the brain region most affected in Parkinson’s disease.
This association led to the dominant hypothesis that excess iron causes neurodegeneration through oxidative stress and iron-dependent cell death pathways.
Recent clinical studies suggest that removing iron from the brain may worsen symptoms, especially in patients who have not yet started dopaminergic therapy, a line of treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
These unexpected findings have led to a reconsideration of the role of iron in Parkinson’s disease and opened the door to an alternative explanation: functional iron deficiency. In such cases, total iron levels are normal or perhaps elevated, even because bioavailable ferrous iron (Fe2+), which is essential for cellular processes, is insufficient.
However, the lack of benefit and potential harm observed in iron removal studies pose a direct challenge to this model.
If iron overload were truly the cause of Parkinson’s disease, removing iron should improve outcomes. Instead, worsening symptoms suggest that removing iron may deprive already fragile neurons of the iron they need to survive and function, especially in earlier stages of disease.
