Ever get your iron levels ran & see multiple types of iron & have no idea what they mean?

Let's break it down

Serum Iron:
Measures efficiency of iron like MPG in a car. Ideal levels:
Women: 100
Men: 120
We wouldn't add more gas to make a car's MPG more efficient.
It's the same with iron.

Iron Saturation:
This measures how many docking stations are available for iron.
TIBC Ideal Values: (Total Iron binding capacity)
Women: 285
Men: 340
Iron Saturation Ideal Value is 25-30%.

Hemoglobin:
This is a protein that is responsible for transporting oxygen. About 70% of our iron is in our Hgb, which is why it's an important piece of the iron puzzle. If this is low iron isn't getting utilized properly.
Ideal Values:
Women: 13
Men: 14.5

Ferritin:
This is a protein that stores iron IN the tissues. The majority of ferritin should be INSIDE the cells. When we have high levels in the blood, it is a sign of inflammation. Blood work is measured OUTSIDE the cell. High ferritin is a sign of stress. When the body is stressed the body starts to discharge a lot of ferritin into the blood but it's empty, no iron.
Ideal levels are 20-50.

Transferrin:
This is a transport protein that helps shuttle iron from the tissues back into the bloodstream.
Ideal levels are about 300.
Transferrin levels increase as iron deficiency increases and decreases when iron status improves. It can also decrease a low protein diet or under-eating.

Iron is absorbed in the digestive system.
Iron accumulates in the tissues & bone marrow
Iron mobilization is the Iron recycling program moving iron from the tissues to the blood to carry out its functions,
Iron is meant to be in motion!

Our bodies have a sophisticated mechanism called the Iron Recycling Program and this is responsible for recycling 24mg of iron in the body every 24 hours. Leaving us to only need to consume 1mg per day from food.

Low iron on a blood test is not a proper representation of iron in the body because it does not take into consideration the iron recycling program and our body's innate ability to protect us.

Iron has to be in constant motion and if it is just hanging out in the blood our body goes into protective mode. When there is too much iron in the blood the body will sequester it into the tissues because iron feeds pathogens and our body wants to protect us from pathogens and so it takes the iron and shoves it into the tissues like the hair or fat cells which is not detectable on a blood test.

Iron needs copper and retinol to be absorbed and used properly.

Low iron doesn't mean you have low iron it means the iron you DO have is not being used properly. That's where Copper & Retinol come in.

Check my posts about Anemia & how iron based Anemia is not real!

Know Better, Do Better
Kourtney Lewis