Capturing the onset of the common cold and its effects on iron absorption

Hypoferremia is a well-known response to infections and inflammatory disorders. It seems to be managed by the key mediator of iron kinetics, hepcidin. There are several studies on induced-acute phase reactions. However, to our best knowledge there are no previous published reports on the outbreak of a common cold and its initial effect on iron kinetics. The objective of this case report is to describe such an observation. From an apparently healthy state in the morning we observed, in a 28-year-old male, every hour for 6 h the outbreak of a common cold and the modulations in the levels of serum iron (S-Fe) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Despite a 100 mg oral iron loading there was a substantial reduction in S-Fe, which seemed to precede the IL-6 peak. Interestingly, this observed succession is in conflict with the proposed infection chain of order in which IL-6 stimulates hepcidin induction. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2007) 61, 1032-1034; doi: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602614; published online 31 January 2007 Keywords: iron, serum iron concentration, interleukin-6, infection, inflammation, hepcidin
Author(s): M Hoppe [1]; L Hulthen [1] Introduction Hypoferremia is a common response to infections and inflammatory disorders (Beresford et al., 1971). The underlying mechanisms are reduced iron absorption from [...]