The Role of the Intestine in Iron Kinetics.

The iron content of the body is small, amounting to about 60 parts per million (1). This quantity must remain within narrow limits to prevent the development of either siderosis or iron deficiency. It has been postulated that the metabolic balance of the body's iron is maintained solely by controlled absorption and that excretion plays a minor role (2). Hahn and his associates proposed that the iron content of the intestinal mucosa controlled the quantity of iron absorbed by the body (3). More recent views are that the iron content of the gut is unimportant in the regulation of iron metabolism (4). This paper reports a study of the iron content of the intestine and its role in the regulation of iron equilibrium.