Water, minerals and trace elements - Iron - Iron storage, metabolism and recommendation

9 important questions on Water, minerals and trace elements - Iron - Iron storage, metabolism and recommendation

Which protein is the transport protein for iron in the blood: ferritin or transferrin?

Transferrin

Through which 2 basic routes does transferrin transport iron in the body?

  • From the intestine to the liver
  • From the liver to the tissues

What happens to the liver and the transferrin saturation when the ferritin levels drop below a certain level as a result of not ingesting enough iron?

The liver cannot release enough iron anymore, and the transferrin saturation decreases
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For what purpose is most of the iron from the liver transported to the bone marrow?

For the synthesis of haemoglobin to be incororated into red blood cells, which are released from the bone marrow into the circulation

How much is the small amount of iron that is lost per day that needs to be gained via the diet (not taking into account people that menstruate)?

1-2 mg

What is the recommended daily allowance for iron for adult women, and for adult men?

Women: 18 mg/day;
Men: 8 mg/day

How come that the RDA for iron is much higher than the amount of iron that our bodies lose a day?

Because of the low iron absorption (which differs depending on iron status)

How is iron absorption suppressed when iron status is high (and thus iron stores in the liver are high)?

The liver releases a hormone: hepcidin. Hepcidin travels from the liver to the intestine, where it prevents the iron to get out of the intestinal cell and bind to transferrin, so that it cannot be transported to the liver

What happens when iron status is low and thus the absorption of iron does not need to be suppressed?

Little hepcidin is released which maximizes the intestinal absorption of iron and transport by binding to transferrin

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