Iron Check

Compares the iron your body has stored with the iron moving through your blood and the protein that carries it.

Iron is the deficiency most people have without knowing it, and this panel is built to tell a shortage from an overload, which a single test cannot. Ferritin is your stored iron, and it is the number that drops first, months before hemoglobin does, so you can be deficient with a normal blood count. Serum iron, iron-binding capacity and transferrin together give the saturation, how much of your carrying capacity is loaded, which is what shows whether iron is getting out of storage and into use. Saturation also goes the other way. A high saturation on a routine draw is how hereditary hemochromatosis, the common inherited tendency to absorb too much iron, is usually found, and catching it before it reaches the liver is the whole point. Ferritin on its own can mislead because it also rises with inflammation, which is why the panel reads it against saturation. Draw it in the morning, before any iron supplement that day, and add the blood count if you want to see whether a deficiency has reached your red cells.

Blood is drawn at a Quest Diagnostics, Labcorp or BioReference patient service center. Price by laboratory: Quest Diagnostics $29, Labcorp $29 or BioReference $29. Your price depends on your state and the laboratories near you. Enter your ZIP code to see them.

What’s included

• Iron, TIBC and ferritin: Serum iron, total iron-binding capacity, iron saturation and ferritin, the body's iron-storage protein.
• Transferrin: Transferrin, the protein made by the liver that carries iron in the blood.

Tests you can add

• Complete blood count (CBC): Red cells, white cells with a breakdown by type, and platelets, plus hemoglobin, hematocrit and red-cell size.

Before your draw

No fasting needed.

A morning appointment is best for the iron test. Ask your clinician whether to pause iron or B-vitamin supplements before the draw. If you take biotin (vitamin B7), including in hair, skin and nail supplements or multivitamins, have your blood drawn at least 8 hours after a usual dose, or at least 72 hours after a high dose. If biotin was prescribed, ask your clinician before stopping it.