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Updated: Nov 18, 2025

An Intestinal Gut Organ Culture System for Analyzing Host-Microbiota Interactions
Published on: June 30, 2021
Iron homeostasis in host and gut bacteria - a complex interrelationship
Yohannes Seyoum1, Kaleab Baye1, Christèle Humblot2
1Center for Food Science and Nutrition, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University , Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Abstract:
Iron deficiency is the most frequent nutritional deficiency in the world with an estimated 1.4 billion people affected. The usual way to fight iron deficiency is iron fortification, but this approach is not always effective and can have undesirable side effects including an increase in the growth and virulence of gut bacterial pathogens responsible for diarrhea and gut inflammation. Iron is mainly absorbed in the duodenum and is tightly regulated in mammals. Unabsorbed iron enters the colonic lumen where many microorganisms, referred to as gut microbiota, reside. Iron is essential for these bacteria, and its availability consequently affects this microbial ecosystem. The aim of this review is to provide further insights into the complex relationship between iron and gut microbiota. Given that overcoming anemia caused by iron deficiency is still a challenge today, gut microbiota could help identify more efficient ways to tackle this public health problem.
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