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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Measurement of Tissue Non-Heme Iron Content using a Bathophenanthroline-Based Colorimetric Assay
Published on: January 31, 2022
Plasma hepcidin concentrations significantly predict interindividual variation in iron absorption in healthy men
Mark A Roe1, Rachel Collings, Jack R Dainty
1Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK.
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 > or = 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 microg/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.
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