Contained in many foods, only some - mainly of animal origin - bring considerable quantities of the most biologically active form. Vitamin C increases its absorption, which occurs in the small intestine and is allowed by the low gastric pH.
The nutritional requirement of iron is higher in fertile women and even higher in pregnant women. Deficiency, obviously more frequent in women, is primarily manifested by iron deficiency anemia.
The excretion of iron occurs physiologically with the desquamation of the epithelia; only in a small part with bile, urine and sweat - in the feces there is the one excreted both with the bile and with the replacement of the gastric and intestinal mucosa. it is harmful and its toxicity, manifested in those suffering from certain metabolic-genetic disorders, is due to the accumulation in the organs and is defined as siderosis.
Iron can interact with some medications.
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Based on the bond with hemoglobin and the oxidation state, two different types of iron are distinguished: hemic and non-hemic.
