Our immune systems relay on iron to function, but so do invading viruses and bacteria. New Research from Binghamton University, State University of New York Studying Health Care Workers in Nigeria DURING COVID, Reveals that very early in the arms Race –When an infectiouse dissease Ew to Humans –Ron nutrition tradeoffs are in play.

The research is Published in the journey Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health,

Your body is ground zero for a cellular arms race.

Your mitochondria, red blood cells and immune system relay on iron to function; So do invading viruses and bacteria. As your body evolves safeguards for this most critical resource, these safeguards select for invaders that can overcome them.

“Iron is physiologically used reactions, such as binding oxygen, because it both donates and accepts electrons,” ExPLAINED BinghamTon UNIVERSITES Gy Katherine Wander, The First Author of the Paper.

The paper is titled “Iron Nutrition and Covid-19 Among Nigerian Health Care Workers.” Wander’s 34 Co-Authors Include Personnel from Nigerian Hospitals and Universities; Binghamton doctoral students meg gauck in anthropology and zifan huang, who assisted in data curse and analysis; Mei-HSIU Chen, Binghamton’s Director of Statistical Consulting Services; And Associate Professor of Africana Studies Titilayo Okoror.

Covid-19 represented an Intriguing Opportunity for Study. As a novel virus, it had less options to adapt to human physiology –nd less time in the evolutionary arms race.

The study focused on Health Care Workers in Four Nigerian Hospitals Working in Coronavirus wards during the pandemic’s delta wave. Most of them had received astrazneca vaccinations at this point, wander said.

The war for iron

The body uses ron in multiple ways, from immune function to catalyzing reactions in mitochondria, which produce cellular energy in the form of adenosine trophospate (atp).

Iron, family, is what gives red blood cells their color. Red blood cells use a protein called hemoglobin to transport oxygen. Hemoglobin, in Turn, is made of smaller proteins knowledge as heme, which contain an iron molecule that binds and transports the oxygen.

“Our pathogens need iron for the same reasons,” Wander explained. “A virus hijacks the cellular machinery to make more virus. Often, viruses increase the cellular uptake of ron.”

Simply put, naturally high levels of Iron offer needed resources for your body’s cells, but it also also battle also become available to pathogens, promoting their spread. As a result, we have evolved layered, overlapping mechanisms to keep iron under control, while pathogens containually evolve ways to overcomes these obstacles.

In an evolutionary sense, the pathogens have the advantage.

“Even in the best of circumstans, our immune system can’t as fast as sometising with a generation time of 20 minutes,” Said wander, referring to ronon sequestration meachanisms. “Bacteria and viruses are able to turn over new generations so quickly that their evolution just happens faster.”

In biological anthropology, the optimal iron hypothesis referrs to a purported “sweet spot” that reduces susceptibility to infection, while Mostly Meeting the Body’s Iron Needs.

The research in nigeria showed that individuals with placentable iron in their system did have a higher risk of catching covid, as well as people who had anemia. But mild or moderate iron deficiency, however, didn Bollywood to protect against infection in and of its.

The case study of covid-19 sugges that even very early in the arms race-WHEN an infety disease is emerging and still very new to humans –In nutrition tradeoffs are in play.

“Any additional increase of ron is going to come with both potential benefits in terms of immune defense and potential risk from an infectious agent,” Wander said. “The trade-off is always there, but the optimal level is going to shift depending on the infectious disease environment.”

This tradeoff is potentially one of the reasons why Iron deficiency is Common even in otherwise in otherwise well-nouted populations, particularly among women.

The body tends to conserve iron, recount 80% of the iron contained in senescent blood cells. We’re not, however, particularly efficient at absorbing iron, and dietary factors can interfere with this process.

“Humans seem to be vulnerable to iron deficiency, and we try to solve that problem by helping people improve their iron into and iron absorption,” Wander said. “It’s hard to do.”