Iron results-any advice?

[Penicookie]

Hi!

V grateful for all the wisdom from this forum.

Just did a full iron panel on Medichecks as ferritin has been consistently low, and I've been on and off ferrous fumarate for years. GP only tests ferritin; advice on here seemed to be to get the full picture.

Results below... Ferritin much better than it's been, which is interesting, as I've not been taking iron tablets since Oct...but still lowish. Should I restart low dose of ferrous fumarate? Or not?

Thank you!

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Will flag up to humanbean and SeasideSusie to comment

[humanbean]

CRP - optimal is under 1, so your result is very good. It suggests you have little or no inflammation to worry about.

For suggested optimal results for iron-related tests see this link :

rt3-adrenals.org/Iron_test_...

Iron - 24.6 (5.8 - 34.5) 65.51% through range

TIBC - 57.3 (45 - 81) 34.17% through range

UIBC - 32.7 (24.2 - 70.1) 18.52% through range

Transferrin Saturation - 42.9% (20 - 50)

Ferritin - 46.0 (13 - 150) 24.09% through range

Using the suggested optimal results from the link above ...

Iron - Optimal is 55% to 70% through range, higher end for men.

Your result is very good. If you're female it might be better being a tiny smidgen lower, but it isn't worth worrying about. This suggests you don't need more iron.

TIBC

• Low in range indicates lack of capacity for additional iron

• High in range indicates body's need for supplemental iron

On the basis of the above info, optimal is probably around mid-range - say, 40% - 60% through range. Yours is below that suggesting you don't have the capacity for additional iron, and this suggests you have plenty of iron.

UIBC - I don't know what optimal is for this, but it is well in range so I wouldn't worry about it.

Transferrin Saturation

• optimal is 35 to 45%

• higher end for men

Your result is very good. If you are female it might be better being a tiny smidgen lower, but it isn't worth worrying about. This suggests you don't need more iron.

Ferritin - On the forum we usually suggest a result for ferritin of around 50% - 70% through the range i.e. very roughly 85 - 110 with the range you've given. You might feel better with a result that was slightly higher, but in conjunction with your other results I would suggest that your iron is fine.

.

Some comments on ferritin...

The range for your result breaks the current NICE guidelines for ferritin. NICE suggests that a level below 30 mcg/L is indicative of iron deficiency, but your range starts at 13 mcg/L.

See this page :

cks.nice.org.uk/topics/anae...

The difficulty with iron and ferritin is that, with your results where iron and saturation are very close to optimal although on the higher side of that, if you started supplementing to raise your ferritin you might end up with ferritin staying the same but iron and saturation shooting up. Having high levels of iron in the blood is not healthy or desirable.

I would suggest that your best bet for now is to keep your iron intake the same as it is currently, and re-test every 4 to 6 months, for the next year to see what happens.

Another thing that can help to increase ferritin and reduce iron (in SOME people, not all) is to make sure that your B12 and folate are optimal. If they are below optimal then they can be improved with methylcobalamin (to raise B12) and methylfolate (to raise folate).

If your B12 and folate are both fine and you don't want to raise them any further then another supplement you can try which might help your iron and ferritin is TMG (Trimethylglycine), also known as betaine.

draxe.com/nutrition/what-is...

The common factor behind methylcobalamin, methylfolate, and trimethylglycine is that they are all "methyl donors". In people with MTHFR problems (a very common genetic issue) they may have too few methyl donors and supplementing the things I've mentioned can improve this. The body needs methyl donors to make the body move iron into ferritin and vice-versa. I don't understand the biochemistry behind it, sorry.

Methylcobalamin, methylfolate, and trimethylglycine can all be bought from Amazon and other sites selling supplements.

Do not confuse TMG/betaine with betaine hydrochloride. They are not the same thing and although both can be bought as supplements they have very different purposes.

[Penicookie in reply to humanbean]

Thank you so much, humanbean - really helpful!