Lactnetters,

I may be showing my ignorance here, but I have a non-breastfeeding question
that I thought maybe somebody here could help answer.

My husband was recently diagnosed with hereditary hemochromatosis.  He has
both the genotype and has the clinical manifestations (elevated transferrin
saturation and ferritin levels, has elevated liver enzymes too).

Now I know that breastmilk contains transferrin and that one of its
benefits is that it binds excess iron.  One of the measures of iron
overload is transferrin saturation.  So I'm thinking if you have more
transferrin, then your transferrin saturation would be less, right?  But my
question is where does transferrin come from?  Do we manufacture it
ourselves or can you obtain transferrin from a source other than
breastmilk?  And once transferrin binds the iron, what happens to it?  Is
it excreted once bound, which would be helpful to a hemochromatosis
patient, or is it still stored in organs, but not available for use, which
would not be so helpful?

I really don't understand how all this works, so if anyone could enlighten
me it would be greatly appreciated.  I do know that I am so thankful that
all my children have been breastfed and not exposed to those high
concentrations of iron in artificial formulas in case they end up with this
too.

BTW, I am nomail right now so if anyone responding to this could e-mail me
privately, I would appreciate it.

Lisa Shumate in Central FL
LLLL, ICCE, wife of Chris (13.5 yrs) and home-educating mom of Bryan (8),
Lindsey (5) and Laynee (2).
[log in to unmask]     home page:  <http://home1.gte.net/shuzoo>