In plain words
Hepcidin is a hormone made mostly in the liver. It acts as a gate for iron. When hepcidin is high, less iron is taken in from food and less is released from stores. When it is low, more iron can pass into the blood. In pregnancy, hepcidin falls in the second and third trimesters. That shift helps the body supply iron for the growing baby and placenta. Hepcidin also rises with inflammation and infection, which can lock iron away. Clinicians may measure it in research settings, but it is not a routine test. Mothers may not hear the word often, but it sits behind many of the iron changes in pregnancy and after birth.
The deeper version
Hepcidin, encoded by HAMP, is a 25-amino-acid peptide hormone produced by hepatocytes. It binds , causing its internalization and degradation, and so reduces iron export from enterocytes and macrophages. is absorbed through DMT1 in the duodenum, a process regulated by hepcidin, which falls in the second and third trimesters and increases iron absorption and mobilization. Inflammation and infection raise hepcidin and reduce iron availability for erythropoiesis, a pattern relevant to and to the timing of iron therapy. Hepcidin measurement is not standard in clinical care. The open questions concern how far hepcidin physiology explains iron absorption patterns in practice, and whether hepcidin-guided strategies would change clinical decisions.
Where it comes up
- Low iron and anemiaPregnancy: Your Body
- Blood-building foods after birthNourishment and Traditions
- Iron-rich foods and how to absorb themPregnancy: Eating
- Anemia and exhaustion after birthPostpartum: Your Body
- Prenatal vitamins: when to start and what's in themBefore Pregnancy
What mothers here say about hepcidin
No one has posted under this term yet.
Sources
- Nemeth E and colleagues — Hepcidin regulates cellular iron efflux by binding to ferroportin and inducing its internalization. Science, 2004