Iron deficiency is the most common mineral substance deficiency in the world. In the West, however, it’s mainly age-dependent, so iron supplementation is unnecessary for most, and can even be dangerous. (1) Iron surplus can’t be easily flushed out, and since iron is vital for various pathogens, unnecessary supplementation can lead to infections. (2) High dose iron supplementation, which is used to treat iron deficiency, can have several gastrointestinal side effects, forcing many to stop the treatment early. (3)  

Iron deficiency is extremely harmful and can cause countless problems, especially during pregnancy, since the developing fetus’s health may be threatened as well. Iron deficiency is also more common during pregnancy: some surveys show that one fourth of pregnant women can develop iron deficiency, even citizens of wealthy countries; iron deficiency affects half of pregnant women in poorer countries, where iron rich food is less accessible. (4) 

Notably, traditional modes of iron supplementation can have various drawbacks even in these cases. Luckily, there’s a better option which not only increases iron levels more effectively and stops the negative effects of iron deficiency, but does not have any of the negative aspects of iron supplementation. What’s more, it has expressly effective antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and antiinflammatory qualities. It’s called lactoferrin, which proved its effectiveness in many studies. It produced such good results that researchers agree that everybody should  take lactoferrin instead of traditional iron supplementation  because it’s  the most effective and perhaps the only safe way to treat iron deficiency. 

What’s lactoferrin and what makes it so effective?  

Lactoferrin is a protein which naturally occurs in breast milk. The body produces it as protection against various diseases, mainly through its effect on iron. (5) Lactoferrin provides the proper placement of iron, and makes it  inaccessible to pathogens which are unable to multiply in the absence of iron. Lactoferrin has many additional benefits that support the proper functioning of the immune system.  

For example, lactoferrin blocks the formation of biofilms, which is one of the most effective weapons bacteria use in their fight against immune cells. (5) Biofilm is a shell where bacteria  hide from immune cells: once this line of defence is successfully built, they become much harder to exterminate , even with antibiotics. It’s no accident that breast milk has the highest lactoferrin concentration, since the most important thing in this  critical life stage is for the gut flora to properly develop so no unwanted strain of bacteria can invade it. 

Lactoferrin has a vastly different effect on inflammatory processes than iron. While high quantities of free iron enhances inflammation and has a negative effect, lactoferrin quickly binds free iron and is proven to prevent the uncontrolled damage of cells and tissue by these unwanted processes. (5) 

The diverse effects of lactoferrin and iron supplementation 

Iron deficiency is easy to diagnose through blood count. The diagnosis is usually based on low haemoglobin levels, but more accurate results can be achieved by examining all values. While iron supplementation increases the body’s iron supply and haemoglobin levels, its above mentioned side effects are very common. Long-term supplementation is dangerous due to its effects on infection. 

While lactoferrin provides a very limited amount of iron, it’s been observed that it effectively improves the iron supplies of the body and increases haemoglobin levels, all through its extremely complex effects on the metabolism of iron. Lactoferrin acts as a kind of regulatory system, which blocks iron from sticking to places where it would cause problems, but be readily accessible everywhere it’s needed.  

Iron supplementation has been compared to lactoferrin in various studies ; the latter always emerged triumphant. In a clinical trial published in 2014,  nearly 300 iron deficient pregnant women  participated. They were given 200 mg lactoferrin or 520 mg iron-sulfate. The researchers wanted to see how  blood values  connected to iron levels might change as a result of supplementation. Besides this, they observed various inflammatory processes and the number of complications in pregnancy. (6) Only lactoferrin supplementation resulted in significant improvement, which effectively ended iron deficiency, unlike iron sulfate supplementation.  An inflammation indicator  became lower thanks to lactoferrin supplementation and increased due to iron supplementation. Moreover, many participants from the group taking iron-sulfate prematurely dropped out from the trial, as they experienced various side-effects; sadly, five of them miscarried. The group taking lactoferrin experienced no side-effects, and despite having more participants in their group, not one of them had a miscarriage.  

A meta-analysis published in 2017, which summarized 4 studies, had similar conclusions. Lactoferrin was more effective in increasing the blood levels connected to iron (haemoglobin, ferritin and serum iron levels) than iron supplementation itself, and unlike iron supplementation, it did not cause unpleasant gastrointestinal discomfort. (7)