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African iron overload, formerly known as “Bantu siderosis”, is an iron overload disorder first observed among people of African descent in Southern Africa.
Originally, this was blamed on ungalvanised barrels used to store home-made beer, which led to increased oxidation and increased iron levels in the beer. Further investigation has shown that only some people drinking this sort of beer get an iron overload syndrome, and that a similar syndrome occurred in people of African descent who have had no contact with this kind of beer (e.g., African Americans). [1]
This led investigators to the discovery of a gene polymorphism in the gene for ferroportin, which predisposes some people of African descent to iron overload. [2]
Polymorphisms in SLC40A1 have recently been investigated in Americans of African descent.[3]
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