It's Your Body - Facts on modern dieting helping you to a healthier life. About one in 250 Americans has two copies of the mutated gene responsible for the disease. The gene is most prevalent in people of northern European descent and in men more than women because menstruation and childbirth re-moves some of the body's excess iron.
Hemochromatosis occurs when the intestine absorbs too much iron from food.
Iron is normally stored in the bone marrow, but in people with the defective gene, iron may settle into the liver, pancreas, heart, skin, and pituitary gland. When large quantities of iron collect in these vital organs, it may injure the cells and cause potentially fatal problems. The disease, once thought to be rare, is often an unsuspected cause of some cases of arthritis, diabetes, congestive heart failure, and liver disease. The liver is usually the first organ to be affected by iron overload. Over time, liver deposits cause scarring or cirrhosis which destroys the liver's ability to manufacture proteins and remove toxic chemicals from the blood.