The human body requires iron to make hemoglobin, a protein in the red blood cells that helps carry oxygen from the lungs to every part of the body, and myoglobin, a protein that provides oxygen to the muscles. This is why, if loss, insufficiency or poor absorption of iron is not sufficiently compensated with an iron-rich diet, one may fall into a state of iron deficiency.

However, as simple as it sounds, iron deficiency is as complicated a condition. While it most often occurs when our body does not get enough iron from the foods we eat or does not absorb the mineral efficiently, it can also transpire when the body has enough iron, but cannot effectively carry it into the cells. This is mostly the case with people suffering from chronic infections or underlying diseases such as cancer.

In light of the pandemic, researchers have looked into the ways COVID-19 has affected different parts and aspects of our body including iron metabolism – the set of chemical reactions that maintain human homeostasis of iron at the systemic and cellular level.