Iron

[Tanyaking]

Could anyone explain in very simple terms,the difference between iron and ferritin?

[humanbean]

Iron is required by the cells of the body in order to function correctly. Ferritin is the substance that stores the iron which isn't currently being used by the body's cells.

Ferritin is a very large molecule; one ferritin molecule alone can hold up to 4, 500 atoms of iron.

The above quote is from this page, which is well worth reading (as are many other pages on the site) :

irondisorders.org/absorption/

[Ellie-Louise in reply to humanbean]

My goodness, thank you for explaining that humanbean.

I always thought it was the same thing so now I know different.