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| Deposition of iron within tissues causes inflammation and subsequent fibrosis and destruction of major organs leading to organ failure and chronic disease. Secondary iron overload may be the result of excessive transfusion therapy, poorly responding anemia being treated with iron supplementation, or chronic liver disease due to alcohol abuse. No internal mechanism exists for excreting excess iron absorbed from the diet. The amount of iron absorbed is influenced by the amount of iron stored in the body, the rate and effectiveness of red blood cell creation, the amount and form of iron in the diet, and the presence of iron absorption enhancers and inhibitors in the diet. However, patients with HHC continue to absorb high amounts of dietary iron even when their bodies have enough or too much iron. Ethnic Factors HHC is commonly underdiagnosed in white patients. The prevalence of the homozygous genotype is estimated to be 1 in 250 persons; the prevalence of the heterozygous genotype is approximately 1 in 8 persons. |
| Iron Manganese |