Nutrients 2013, 5(3), 957-970; doi:10.3390/nu5030957
Review

Regulatory Effects of Cu, Zn, and Ca on Fe Absorption: The Intricate Play between Nutrient Transporters

Nathalie Scheersemail
Division of Life Sciences, Food Science, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
Received: 4 February 2013; in revised form: 8 March 2013 / Accepted: 15 March 2013 / Published: 20 March 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Iron and Human Health)
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Abstract: Iron is an essential nutrient for almost every living organism because it is required in a number of biological processes that serve to maintain life. In humans, recycling of senescent erythrocytes provides most of the daily requirement of iron. In addition, we need to absorb another 1–2 mg Fe from the diet each day to compensate for losses due to epithelial sloughing, perspiration, and bleeding. Iron absorption in the intestine is mainly regulated on the enterocyte level by effectors in the diet and systemic regulators accessing the enterocyte through the basal lamina. Recently, a complex meshwork of interactions between several trace metals and regulatory proteins was revealed. This review focuses on advances in our understanding of Cu, Zn, and Ca in the regulation of iron absorption. Ascorbate as an important player is also considered.
Keywords: iron; absorption; Fe; Zn; Cu; Ca; ascorbate

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Scheers, N. Regulatory Effects of Cu, Zn, and Ca on Fe Absorption: The Intricate Play between Nutrient Transporters. Nutrients 2013, 5, 957-970.

AMA Style

Scheers N. Regulatory Effects of Cu, Zn, and Ca on Fe Absorption: The Intricate Play between Nutrient Transporters. Nutrients. 2013; 5(3):957-970.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Scheers, Nathalie. 2013. "Regulatory Effects of Cu, Zn, and Ca on Fe Absorption: The Intricate Play between Nutrient Transporters." Nutrients 5, no. 3: 957-970.

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