Natural Iron Chelators: Safety and Efficacy Trials

Iron overload is the accumulation of excess iron in body tissues and Hemochromatosis is a disease that occurs as a result of significant iron overload. Hereditary hemochromatosis is the genetic disease that results from significant iron overload. Acquired iron overload occurs when one obtains excessive amounts of iron from repeated exposure through supplementation, diet, iron shots, blood transfusion. Excess of iron gets deposited in vital organs and tissues such as liver, brain, heart, spleen and bones and leads to problems. The management of iron overload can be divided in to two types mainly.a. Phlebotomy b. Iron Chelationa. Phlebotomy: A phlebotomy is a procedure used to remove blood from a person.b. Iron Chelation: The available treatment for iron Chelation is either having many side effects or is very costly. Patients cannot tolerate the side effects of the daily injections. No ideal chelator exists to treat patients with transfusional iron overload. Still the search for is needed and such a compound can be extrapolated from the clinical requirements: Oral administration, Good tissue penetration, Easy mobilization of the iron-chelator complex, Inexpensive, and Non-Toxic.