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[John]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45983320

"During an acute infection, one of our innate immune responses is to create an iron-poor environment."

"In response, bacteria increase their iron intake."

Although I think cause and effect are in the wrong order there, bacteria need iron to grow and will gobble up as much as is available, so in response, the immune system limits its supply leading to anaemia. I have always suspected this was the case, but it's the first time I have seen it stated - I need to investigate this further. Given anaemia is common in Crohn's it's surprising that isn't connected by the medical profession to your immune system battling an infection.  Another useful piece of evidence in my view and an interesting and hopefully effective tactic.

[Julie D.]

This is really exciting. I've also discussed this with my doc since I've had chronically low iron and have heard reports of members on our site flaring when they've gotten IV iron. She tended to agree with me that there was some undiscovered relationship between iron and CD that may be related to an infectious process using the iron for its purposes. Nice to see it in print. I try to keep mine in the low end of normal as a balance.

Here's the journal article for anyone intrested:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(18)30554-1/fulltext

[John]

There appear to be plenty of papers written on the subject, I need to get through a few more of them, but this one is particularly interesting because it talks specifically about Tuberculosis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3270215/#R66

There have also been studies which demonstrated the benefit of iron deficiency.  In this African study, treating iron deficiency created worse outcome than those who remained iron deficient.  A diet low in iron would seem like a sensible approach to deal with mycobacterial infection.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1608230/

[Ildiko]

I would be curious too whether there is any difference between heme and non-heme iron in the context of infection. Non-heme iron (found in plants, dairy and eggs) is significantly less well absorbed. This might be true for pathogens’ ability to use it too. Perhaps it is a reason a vegan diet works for some people with IBD. I am just speculating out loud here, but I would at least bet that heme and non-heme iron have very different effects.

[Ashwini C]

The whole process of luring bacteria near antibiotic using iron  itself is interesting and so new. hope we have more of these type of innovations

[Lkelley]

I have always suspected the body's iron withholding process was the cause of my son's anemia, rather than poor absorption or occult bleeding. Regardless of how much iron my son took, his levels never improved. I wondered if iron supplementation might be making his MAP infection worse. I spoke to John Aitken about this several years ago; he thought that supplementation could, indeed, worsen MAP infections.