Don Matesz has an interesting take on it:

http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2011/10/phytate-facts.html

"I have never seen any evidence that dietary phytate causes mineral deficiencies except in the context of overall poor quality diet, such as people attempting to live on diets composed entirely of unleavened grains and legume flours without adequate intake of vegetables, fruits, and other mineral sources"

Some literature, mostly animal studies, tout the anti-cancer properties of phytic acid: http://jn.nutrition.org/content/133/11/3778S.long.

While many studies say ip6 from phytic acid can't be digested, this says the opposite:

"Contrary to the dogma and skepticism at that time, we showed that IP6 is taken up by malignant cells (21) and that orally administered IP6 can reach target tumor tissue distant from the gastrointestinal tract (22). Because of the highly charged nature of IP6, it was a common misconception that it could not be transported into the cells."

Some correlation between high iron and colon cancer: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11396694,

Iron chelation therapy from phytic acid can help with excess of certain mineral overloads. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cmc/2003/00000010/00000012/art00005

Here's my take. The verdict is still out on phytic acid, but depending on your needs, you may be better avoiding it-if you have bone loss, or low iron for instance. However, if you have high iron, maybe you might be okay with it in some amounts. I think ultimately it will come down to ratios of specific minerals. Also, if you are eating nuts on a paleo diet, you will be consuming a high amount of phytic acid.

Mat Lalonde eat black beans and I think Travis on this site says he might be OK with beans/legumes as long as they are eaten separately from other foods like meats.

As someone with relatively high ferratin (around 150, which is lab 'normal' but too high for optimal health in my opinion), I actually eat rice or drink some tea with my meat on purpose sometimes. Before I lose my paleohacks license, I would say I eat rice less than once a week.

I give blood somewhat regularly but that hasn't done much to lower my ferratin levels. I eat around half pound of meat/day and used to consume very little phytic acid so this is my current experiment.

To clarify what Anonymous Chump posted from Don, most of the studies on Phytic acid having a negative effect are in the context of women during the childbearing years and children in poor countries with low-quality diets. And by low-quality I mean too low in calories and very reliant on a single often-questionable grain like millet. I think people with digestive issues , woman who are pregnant/menstruating/nursing/menopausing, and young children are the only people who really need to worry about phytic acid levels. For many men, particularly of certain ethnicities, it can be a positive thing.

Phytic acid doesn't make my list of things to worry about. I know what foods confound/interfere with nutrient absorption, so I make certain I don't take my supplements when consuming them.

As far as iron, I was surprised to see that iron isn't listed on my blood work.. I have no idea where mine is at. As someone who was anemic as a child I probably should know that.

I noticed on the blood donations thread that Dr Rowe states "there must be enough protein in the diet to sequester iron". Anyone know what that means? I was under the impression that the heme iron in meats was the problem here (paleo/primal diet).