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Review
. 2022 Feb;37(1):81-93.
doi: 10.1002/ncp.10662. Epub 2021 May 12.

Oral iron supplementation in patients with chronic kidney disease: Can it be harmful to the gut microbiota?

Marcia Ribeiro  1   2 , Larissa Fonseca  2   3 , Juliana S Anjos  2   4 , Jean C C Capo-Chichi  3 , Natália A Borges  5 , Jerrilynn Burrowes  6 , Denise Mafra  1   2   4   3
Affiliations
Review

Oral iron supplementation in patients with chronic kidney disease: Can it be harmful to the gut microbiota?

Marcia Ribeiro et al. Nutr Clin Pract. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have several pathophysiological alterations, including anemia, one of the first changes in CKD patients. More recently, researchers have observed that the intestinal microbiota alterations are also another complication in these patients. The most common treatment for anemia is oral (mainly ferrous sulfate) or intravenous iron supplementation. Despite being a necessary treatment, recent studies have reported that supplementation with oral iron may increase its availability in the intestine, leading to disturbance in the gut microbiota and also to oxidative stress in the enterocytes, which may change the permeability and the microbiota profile. Although it is a therapy routinely used in patients with CKD, supplementation with oral iron on the gut microbiota has been rarely studied in these patients. Thus, this review will discuss the relationship between iron and the gut microbiota and the possible effects of oral iron supplementation on gut microbiota in patients with CKD.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease; iron; iron deficiency anemia; microbiota.

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References

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