By: Dr. Andrew Krause ND CSCS CISSN, Ontario Regional Manager, Cyto-Matrix

One of my favourite parts of my role with Cyto-Matrix is how often I get to see colleagues at their clinics, and hear about their clinical successes in practice. One product that has been getting particular mention in meetings over the past few months is Bio-Ferra.

Bio-Ferra is a liquid iron that uses a form of iron called Polyaccharide Iron Complex (PIC). We chose to use this form of iron in Bio-Ferra for three reasons:
1. PIC is a non-ionic form of iron, which means it does not need high stomach acid to be absorbed. This runs contrary to many other forms of iron that are prominent on the market, since an ionic form of iron requires high stomach acid to break the bond between the iron and whatever agent has been bound to it. Common agents bound to iron are: gluconate, fumarate, succinate, and bisglycinate. (1)
2. PIC is also significantly less constipating than other forms of iron, and therefore encourages better compliance than with other forms of iron (Bio-Ferra also has a palatable green apple taste). PIC has a higher lethal dose (LD50) than any other form of iron on the market (2,3), which makes it safe, along with being tolerable.
a. Bio-Ferra has been on the market for 26 months as of this writing, and we have yet to have a patient call in and complain about constipation related to the product!
3. PIC is a vegan source of iron! At Cyto-Matrix, we are always mindful of ensuring that our products can be used by the largest proportion of patients possible, so this was an important feature when choosing PIC.

Now that you understand the “why” behind Bio-Ferra, here are some of the clinical results we’ve seen and heard from clinicians using Bio-Ferra in practice over the last 2 years.
1. A pregnant patient was able to double her ferritin (16 to 32mcg/L) in two weeks with 2 teaspoons of Bio-Ferra per day, even considering her 1L of blood loss during the birthing process.
2. One clinician has had 4 cases in the past year where giving 2 tsps per day of Bio-Ferra doubles the patient’s ferritin levels in 3-6 months.
3. Another pregnant patient was able to raise her ferritin from 16 to 52 mcg/L with 3tsp per day dosing in 6 weeks, having also lost blood during the birthing process.
Among the many other iron products on the Canadian natural health product market, Bio-Ferra is a safe option that limits constipation, and is clinically effective at improving the symptoms of iron deficiency.
References:
1. Ma et al. Effects of Different Doses and Duration of Iron Supplementation on Curing Iron Deficiency Anemia: an Experimental Study. Biol Trace Elem Res (2014) 162:242–251
2. Oral Iron for Anemia: A Review of the Clinical Effectiveness, Cost-effectiveness and Guidelines. Ottawa (ON): Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; 2016 Jan.
3. Klein-Schwartz, Wendy. Toxicity of Polysaccharide–Iron Complex Exposures Reported to Poison Control Centers. Ann Pharmacother 2000; 34:165-9.