[Iron metabolism]

Abstract

Iron is essential to the human organism but is also highly toxic. Therefore, in the organism, iron is always tightly bound to specific proteins. In the past few years, our understanding of iron cellular uptake and regulation mechanisms has been expanded. However, iron metabolism, particularly its intestinal absorption and release from ferritin, is still uncompletely understood. Intestinal absorption appears to be the prime factor of iron homeostasis control. Iron deficiency is one of the most common nutritional problems in the world. However, oxidative stress induced by iron overload has been implicated in a growing number of diseases.