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This Article Full Text (Publish Ahead of Print[PDF]) All Versions of this Article: 89/4/1088    most recent ajcn.2008.27297v1 Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Roe, M. A Articles by Fairweather-Tait, S. J Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Roe, M. A Articles by Fairweather-Tait, S. J Agricola Articles by Roe, M. A Articles by Fairweather-Tait, S. J

Plasma hepcidin concentrations significantly predict interindividual variation in iron absorption in healthy men^1,2,3

¹ From the Institute of Food Research, Norwich, United Kingdom (MAR and JRD); the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom (RC and SJF-T); and the Department of Clinical Chemistry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands (DWS).

² Supported by a grant from the Food Standards Agency (London, UK)

³ Reprints not available. Address correspondence to SJ Fairweather-Tait, School of Medicine, Health Policy & Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, Norfolk, United Kingdom. E-mail: s.fairweather-tait{at}uea.ac.uk.

ABSTRACT

Background: Iron absorption is proposed to be regulated by circulating hepcidin, but, to date, little data are available to evaluate this relation in humans.

Objective: Stored samples from a human iron absorption study were used to test the hypothesis that differences in plasma hepcidin explain interindividual variation in iron absorption.

Design: Hepcidin-25 concentrations were measured in fasting samples from men aged 40 y (n = 33) recruited to a study investigating the relation between the HFE genotype, iron absorption, and iron status.

Results: Log iron absorption was negatively correlated with serum ferritin (r = –0.59, P < 0.001) and with plasma hepcidin (r = –0.55, P < 0.001), but was unaffected by genotype. There was a positive correlation (r = 0.82, P < 0.001) between hepcidin (mean: 2.3; range: 0.1–7.8 nmol/L) and ferritin (mean: 70; range: 9–208 µg/L). Multiple linear regression models showed that plasma hepcidin in isolation significantly predicted 36% of the interindividual variation in iron absorption.

Conclusions: Plasma hepcidin and serum ferritin concentrations are highly correlated, and, in the normal range of plasma hepcidin values, 36% of interindividual differences in iron absorption are explained by differences in circulating plasma hepcidin.

Received for publication November 28, 2008. Accepted for publication January 14, 2009.

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