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Previous Volume 343:516-517 August 17, 2000 Number 7 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Edited by James C. Barton and Corwin Q. Edwards. 616 pp., illustrated. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2000. $215. ISBN 0-521-593808.

Iron is so critical for cell function and survival that, paradoxically, a heritable abnormality that causes increased iron absorption may actually confer a selective advantage. Although this idea may appear simplistic, it could explain how a genetic defect that originated in ancient times among northwestern European populations not only has spread all over the world but also has been maintained in diverse populations.

Hemochromatosis is the most common hereditary disease of metabolism. In mammals, a critical regulatory checkpoint of iron metabolism is located in the small intestine, where dietary iron is absorbed. In the 1970s, when a general model of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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