Medicine: Bread and Iron

Too much of a good thing?

As almost everyone knows, iron is routinely added to "enriched" flour and bread because the element, needed to make hemoglobin, is stripped out in the grain-milling process. But disturbing news from Sweden suggests that too much iron may trigger a serious and often fatal hereditary illness. It is an iron storage disorder called hemochromatosis, and it causes its victims, mostly male, to absorb too much iron. Possible results: liver disease, diabetes, impotence, sterility, heart failure, even sudden death.

The disease has always been regarded as extremely rare. But...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!