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NUTRIENTS & INFLAMMATION
Also printed as: Serum ferritin · Iron stores
Educational only — not medical advice.
Ferritin is the protein your body stores iron in, so the blood level acts as a gauge of your iron reserves. It is the earliest marker to move when stores are being drawn down. It is also an acute-phase protein, meaning inflammation raises it independently of iron.
Ferritin is the most useful iron marker and the trickiest, because inflammation can mask low stores by pushing the number up. That is why it is often read alongside CRP.
TYPICAL ADULT RANGE
Many labs report roughly 24–336 ng/mL for adult men and 11–307 ng/mL for adult women, though many clinicians consider values under about 30 ng/mL low regardless of the printed range. Ranges vary by lab. Reported in ng/mL.
Reference ranges vary by lab, by method, and by age and sex. Always read your own result against the range printed on your report.
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A low ferritin means iron stores are running down, and the reasons are usually straightforward: heavy menstrual periods, pregnancy, blood donation, endurance training, a plant-forward diet, or reduced absorption. It commonly shows up before hemoglobin falls, so a low ferritin with a normal hemoglobin is a familiar and useful early finding. Fatigue, hair shedding, and restless legs sometimes accompany it. What to do about it — including whether iron supplementation is appropriate for you and at what dose — is a decision for your doctor, since iron is not harmless in everyone.
A high ferritin is most often driven by inflammation rather than iron, because it rises with any infection, injury, or inflammatory state — this is why doctors read it next to CRP. Alcohol intake, liver conditions, and extra body weight also raise it. Genuine iron overload, including hereditary hemochromatosis, is the other possibility and is worth identifying, so a persistently high ferritin is a standard reason for your doctor to check transferrin saturation. That follow-up is routine.
Your doctor is the one who can read this number against your history, symptoms, and medications.
Educational only — not medical advice. Lab results only mean something alongside your history, symptoms, medications, and the rest of your panel. Bring questions to your doctor; they are the one who can interpret your results for you.
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