Iron Defi ciency 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. 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.