Do a lot of people get hemochromatosis?

It's relatively rare: Hemochromatosis is a disorder where a person has too much iron in the blood. This can cause significant problems as iron will deposit in areas like the hear and liver. While it is typically rare, it can be seen if someone takes too much iron supplement. Generally, men should not take iron if they are otherwise healthy. Women, on the other hand, are usually ok provided they are still mentruati.

Not very rare: Hereditary hemochromatosis is a hereditary problem with mutations in the gene that regulates iron absorption (hfe gene) that causes increased intestinal iron absorption-which led to iron overload.. The frequency of heterozygotes is about 10 percent in caucasian populations in the United States and western europe with a frequency of about 5 per 1000 (0.5 percent) for the homozygous state.

It's quite common: Hereditary hemochromatosis is very common, especially the type I variant at the HFE locus. Among people of northern European ancestry, about 1 person in 200 has two copies of the gene and can develop the disease easily if they get plenty of iron. If it's missed, it's lethal. It's very easy to manage and patients now have normal lives with phlebotomy as needed.