Diet, health and lifestyle factors and haemochromatosis ($75,850)
This grant is an excellent example of one study leading to another, and building on the outcomes of an earlier grant (see project 8).
Haemochromatosis is an inherited disorder that results in the build up of toxic amounts of iron in various body organs. This iron excess is due to the inability of the body to control iron absorption from the intestine. Iron overload causes a range of clinical problems, including tiredness, heart problems, liver disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal cancer.
Over three years the Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust supported research into the prevalence of genetic Haemochromatosis in the North of Tasmania. This identified a large number of individuals and families who have the genetic markers linked to Haemochromatosis. This provides an ideal opportunity for an exciting new research project to examine the factors which determine whether people with the different genes actually develop iron overload. This research is very important as it is the iron overload which causes the clinical problems, such as cirrhosis of the liver, liver cancer, diabetes and possible heart disease and gastrointestinal cancer.
The work is facilitated by the involvement of the new Professor in Biomedical/Human Life Sciences who has an international reputation in diet/lifestyle and chronic disease research. The knowledge generated should assist in determining which individuals are at greatest risk of significant iron overload and clinical problems. It could also indicate the early interventions and advice needed to reduce the risk for people developing these chronic disabilities at a young age.
Tasmania's Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust was established in 1991.