European researchers reported that about 1 in 10 new cases of heart disease in middle-age people might be prevented if they had sufficient levels of iron in their diets.

Iron is essential for equilibrium in the body and energy metabolism, which might be a potential link, said lead researcher Dr. Benedikt Schrage.

Earlier studies have found that iron-deficient patients with cardiovascular diseases are more likely than others to be hospitalized or die. The current study included more than 12,000 European men and women with a median age of 59. Over roughly 13 years, the researchers looked for heart disease and stroke, death due to cardiovascular disease, and death from any cause.

Iron deficiency was tied to a 24 percent higher risk of heart disease, a 26 percent increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 12 percent higher risk of dying from any cause, compared with no iron deficiency, the researchers found.

When Schrage and his colleagues calculated the effect of iron deficiency over 10 years, they found that 5 percent of all deaths, 12 percent of cardiovascular deaths and 11 percent of new heart disease diagnoses could be attributed to iron deficiency.