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Human iron metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that maintain human homeostasis of iron at the systemic and cellular level. Iron is both necessary to the body and potentially toxic. Controlling iron levels in the body is a critically important part of many aspects of human health and disease.
[1] [11] The average adult human contains about 0.005% body weight of iron, or about four grams, of which three quarters is in hemoglobin – a level that remains constant despite only about one milligram of iron being absorbed each day, [5] because the human body recycles its hemoglobin for the iron content. [12]
Iron is also the most abundant transition metal in the human body and it is used in various processes like oxygen transport and ATP production. It plays a key role in the function of enzymes like cytochrome a, b and c as well as iron-sulfur complexes which play an important role in ATP production. [13]
Iron deficiency, or sideropenia, is the state in which a body lacks enough iron to supply its needs. Iron is present in all cells in the human body and has several vital functions, such as carrying oxygen to the tissues from the lungs as a key component of the hemoglobin protein, acting as a transport medium for electrons within the cells in the form of cytochromes, and facilitating oxygen ...
The body of an adult human contains about 4 grams (0.005% body weight) of iron, mostly in hemoglobin and myoglobin. These two proteins play essential roles in oxygen transport by blood and oxygen storage in muscles. To maintain the necessary levels, human iron metabolism requires a minimum of iron in the diet.
It is the primary intracellular iron-storage protein in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, keeping iron in a soluble and non-toxic form. In humans, it acts as a buffer against iron deficiency and iron overload. [3] Ferritin is found in most tissues as a cytosolic protein, but small amounts are secreted into the serum where it functions as an iron ...
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The human body has protective mechanisms in place to prevent excess free ferric iron from circulating the body. When being transported throughout the body, iron is bound to an iron transporting protein called transferrin to prevent iron from being absorbed into different cells. [6] Any excess iron is stored as ferritin in the liver. [6]