Ferritin Assay

Hello all, what would you consider to be an optimum Iron level please, with a range of 11-336? Thank you.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

SOBS

It's said that ferritin is recommended to be half way through range. There are various ranges we see here, ranges for a male seem to be wider than the range for a female. I think there may possibly be a different range for females for pre-menopause and post-menopause, but if I have a private test done the range is always 13-150 and if my surgery does the test it's always 20-300.

I have also seen that for a female 100-130 is a good level and for males 150 is a good level.

According to web.archive.org/web/2018083...

Ferritin: Low level virtually always indicates need for iron supplementation; High level with low serum iron/low saturation indicates inflammation or infection;

so one assumes that mid-range is optimal according to that article.

[humanbean]

Personally, if I have a test for ferritin, I always want a result which is mid-range, and for the range you've given that would be around 175.

But there is more to optimal iron than just checking ferritin. I try to check all the following at the same time :

ferritin

serum iron

transferrin saturation

I have a tendency to lose iron quite rapidly, so having got my results as close to optimal as I can I take a maintenance dose to keep it there.

[Hidden]

Thank you for your replies. My serum ferritin came back as 25 ug/L which is in the range 11-336 but it sounds too low to me.

[humanbean in reply to Hidden]

It is too low - much too low!

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

Well my thyroid levels are in range so no wonder I am tired 🤦🏽‍♀️