I tried supplementing with only 1 iron tablet but my ferritin and iron dropped below reference ranges very quickly. I am also eating chicken liver once a week. I dont know what I should do now.
Please note that contradictory results are common.
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Serum iron
• 55 to 70% of the range
• higher end for men / lower end for women
Your result (70% through range) is a smidgen higher than optimal for a woman, but this isn't concerning. It would be concerning if your serum iron level kept on rising.
TIBC (total iron binding capacity) or Transferrin
• Low in range indicates lack of capacity for additional iron
• High in range indicates body's need for supplemental iron
Your result (-6.9% through range i.e. under range) is suggesting that you have a lack of capacity for additional iron, which suggests that you have plenty of iron.
Saturation
• optimal is 35 to 45%
• higher end for men / lower end for women
Your result (56.1%) is over range, suggesting that you have too much iron.
Ferritin
• Low level virtually always indicates need for iron supplementation
• High level with low serum iron/low saturation indicates inflammation
or infection
• High level with high serum iron and low TIBC indicates excess iron
• Over range with saturation above 45% suggests hemochromatosis
Your result (57.5% through range) is slightly above mid-range. What is classed as optimal differs according to source. On this forum a common suggestion is that optimal for ferritin is approximately 50% - 70% through the range, which yours already is, so it is optimal.
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I am supplementing with Iron Bisglycinate 20mg. 3 tablets each day. (60mg each day).Plus vitamin C.
I tried supplementing with only 1 iron tablet but my ferritin and iron dropped below reference ranges very quickly. I am also eating chicken liver once a week.
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Your serum iron result is unlikely to be a problem, being so close to optimal. But it would probably be a good idea to reduce your iron supplements a little bit, particularly since some of the other results suggest you have too much iron. Finding a maintenance dose for iron that works for you can be a very long-winded process. Reducing your dose from 3 tablets a day down to 1 (i.e. 21 tablets per week down to 7) was much too big a change, so you need to find what works at a dose between those two levels. I would suggest as a starting point that you stick to 3 tablets a day on weekdays and reduce the weekend dose to 2 tablets a day, (or some other pattern of dosing you want to try) and then retest in a couple of months. You would need a weekly pill box so that you only have to sort out your pills once a week, rather than trying to remember doses every day.
Your TIBC being below range is slightly worrying. There are several possible causes for it. This link is well worth reading :
Some years ago my TIBC was quite substantially under range (suggesting that I probably had loads of iron) while everything else was telling me my saturation, my iron, and my ferritin were actually extremely low.
I decided to aim for optimising my ferritin and serum iron as far as possible and then seeing what my TIBC did. It actually improved - quite a lot - and is now well in range. My experience is not a guide to what will happen to your TIBC, but I would say that if you concentrate on optimising ferritin and serum iron, and test in a couple of months then you should get more idea of how your TIBC will respond, then you can decide whether you need to increase or decrease your iron intake. I wouldn't suggest increasing or decreasing dose by more than 2 tablets a week of the product you currently take.
Your saturation is well over optimal and over range. This would suggest your should reduce your iron intake. Hopefully the dose I suggested will do the trick, but you may find you have to reduce dose further after your next test.
Your ferritin result is already optimal. Hopefully reducing your dose of iron tablets by 2 tablets a week won't make it drop too much.
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You know that going down to 1 iron tablet per day was too big a drop, and 3 tablets per day is possibly slightly too much so you could "creep down" to your ideal dose by dropping 2 tablets a week.
Another strategy might be to go down to 2 tablets per day, every day of the week, retest in a couple of months, then "creep up" (or down) to your ideal dose, by raising (or reducing) dose by 2 tablets per week if necessary.
Whatever you do don't make any big leaps in dose up or down.
Thank you humanbeans for your advice. No, I dont know my B-12 and folate levels. I will ask my GP to test them next time when I retest my iron panel. But I am supplementing with B-12 complex everyday (AAVALABS vitamin b complex high strength from amazon). So it cant be low.
I looked up pteroylmonoglutamic acid (I'd never heard of it before) which is mentioned in the ingredient list of your B Complex and discovered that it is another name for folic acid. I'm sure that the use of the unusual name for folic acid is a deliberate tactic designed to confuse customers and, for reasons given in these two links, I wouldn't want to take it :
Personally I take Thorne Research Basic B, one per day. I have also taken Igennus Super B Complex. The Igennus has a full dose of 2 per day, but I was taking it at a dose of 1 per day, and it seemed to be okay. It gets criticized for something, but I can't remember what.
Oh yes, I'd forgotten that. Since I've been taking both vitamins B12 and C for a long time and my B12 absorption apparently hasn't been affected (I don't have pernicious anaemia and both my Active and Serum B12 have been over range several times) I've let that research pass me by. It wouldn't stop me from taking Igennus Super B Complex.
This article is worth reading. The references for the article are difficult to find, but there is a link just after it says "Medically Reviewed on 12/16/2022".
Thanks for the link. I’m still taking Igennus B, but was going to change when I run out because my B12 is probably still a bit low and I didn’t want the C preventing absorption of the small amount of B12 in the B complex.
According to the link it would be a high dose of C that might affect B12, and even then it’s debatable, so maybe I can continue with Igennus after all!
You can continue to take your B Complex and just add in a separate B12 supplement which you can take as many days a week as necessary to raise your B12 level to where you want it. You might find that taking a B12 dose once or twice a week is enough, or possibly 3, 4 ,5 etc days of the week.
Once you've raised your B12 to the level you want you can cut down on the separate B12 or stop it altogether. Finding a maintenance dose for nutrients can be a long-winded process but it is worth it in the end.
For info on B12 supplement options see this link :
Personally I keep my serum B12 level at 1000 ng/L or slightly more, and I take a B Complex (Thorne Research), and a methylcobalamin supplement too, about 3 days a week.
TIBC measures transferrin proteins available for binding free iron in the blood, as leaving iron 'free' is damaging to the body. Therefore, TIBC and serum iron should correlate in a linear fashion when in a healthy state.
When iron is deficient or not working correctly TIBC and serum iron adopt an inverse correlation when if iron drops, TIBC will rise in an effort to encourage the body to absorb more iron for use, and if iron raises TIBC reduces to try reducing the chance of free iron.
I think you have tried raising your iron too quickly or are taking a dose that is slightly too high for your body to be able to use. You have also jumped about with the dose. I agree with humanbean to reduce your dose and TIBC should eventually follow suit.
Transferrin Saturation % is a calculation of serum iron and TIBC, and yours is elevated because your TIBC is too low. We aim to keep T/S% within range as this indicates good usage of iron and none that is free.
Absolutely, the liver is the most vulnerable to 'free' iron but it can settle in all the organs and do irreversible damage. It is of utmost importance not to overload the body with iron and that is why I suggested you reduce your dose.
I can't bear liver - other than chicken livers, but they aren't as nutritious as, say, beef or lamb - so I take desiccated freeze-dried grass-fed beef liver, and they're great. They're well absorbed - being natural food - and got my levels up so high I''m on a break, as my ferritin was at the top of the range.
I wanted to buy desiccated freeze-dried grass-fed beef liver but after reading peoples reviews on amazon, I was reading 1 star reviews. I dont want to buy it anymore. I dont want to end up in hospital like the other people.
Good god - what on earth where they buying? I use Ancestral Supplements, Hirsch's, or similar and all the reviews are on average about 4.5. Ok, they are extremely expensive, but I'm prepared to ay that for my health.
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