Iron deficiency in women’s health : an understated burden with serious health consequences

Abstract

The importance of iron for overall health in humans cannot be overstated and its extremely widespread biological functions include electron transfer, intercellular signalling, catalysis, and oxygen binding and transport. Iron is found in all cells and is required for the synthesis of iron-sulphur clusters and heme proteins like cytochromes c, b5, and P450, myoglobin, neuroglobin and heme-based sensor proteins.1 It is also an enzyme cofactor that is essential for many important biological processes, and studies have shown that up to 6.5% of all human enzymes are iron-dependant.