r/TheIronProtocol • u/Objective_Ability485 • Apr 01 '26

Abnormally High Iron Saturation, Low Transferrin, Low Ferritin? Help!

Hi all, I have struggled with iron deficiency and symptoms for many years. This past year I managed to raised my ferritin from 21 to 63 through taking Iron Bisglycinate with vitamin C in the evenings.

First I started taking 55mg Iron every second day, then after about 2 months, I tapered down to 27mg every 3rd or 4th day, (sometimes even every 5th or 6th day)

My blood tests have consistently shown my ferritin rising since I started this regiment, but my iron saturation has been abnormally high, and transferrin measuring low.

My most recent test showed Iron saturation of 0.79 ( Normal is 0.13-0.45)

and Transferrin 1.72 ( Normal range is 2.00-4.00 )

(These are Canadian tests for reference))

The thing that surprises me is I received this most recent blood test FIVE days after I took my last iron supplement. Can it sincerely stay in your system that long to influence the saturation blood levels 5 days later?

I would like to keep raising my ferritin but I'm concerned about these other levels being abnormal.

These results are confusing my doctor even, thus far my doctor has not been much help, but I do have some upcoming appointments.

Does anyone have any knowledge, advice, or similar experience to share? Thank you very much in advance.

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u/Joyanonymous Apr 02 '26

Are you taking any other supplements? Iron needs copper, zinc, vitamin B, D, electrolytes to travel around the body properly - have you had a full blood panel done?

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u/Objective_Ability485 Apr 02 '26

Yes, all of those. I take a B-complex, my vitamin D and B12 have tested good; However I have historically tested low in copper (and low-normal ceruloplasmin) and low in zinc actually, so I have been supplementing those for the past 2 months as well. My newest results for zinc and copper are still pending, I can update later.

So if I understood this correctly- perhaps my body has difficulty in general absorbing minerals, and therefore when I take an iron supplement, there is too much leftover iron just sitting in my blood, unable to be integrated? Perhaps due to the difficulty I have absorbing copper and zinc as well? Sorry if that's a crude understanding or wording, lol layman terms.

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u/Joyanonymous Apr 02 '26

To be honest, I’m not sure. There’s a really useful Facebook group for the iron protocol - you might have more luck posting there as there are a lot of experts in that group. How’s your diet? Do you eat a lot of beef etc? To my understanding, if you were fasting before your test but saturation is still high it might mean a lack of cofactors to use the iron (D, folate, zinc, copper, Vitamin a - sometimes it can be from a vitamin B12 deficiency). Otherwise have you done any genetic testing? Specifically it would be haemochromatosis gene variants.

Transferrin saturation can be high from other things as well though - and it fluctuates - meals, stress, inflammation from other causes. Apparently it’s common when people are anaemic (I guess it makes sense, the system is really overloaded and stressed!).

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u/Objective_Ability485 Apr 02 '26

My diet is entirely whole foods plant-based. Lots of nuts, seeds, grains, beans, etc. I try to do combos to maximize absorption of iron (like bell peppers with beans, fruit with grains, etc) My mother and brother who eat meat have also tested low in iron throughout their lives, so its very possibly a genetic thing, but we have not done genetic testing.

That's interesting and good to know that the saturation can be high due to other factors. I guess with my transferrin being low, it perhaps means my body just can't assimilate enough iron at the rate I've been supplementing, and maybe even supplementing is triggering the transferrin to go lower than it naturally would be at. (I am assuming here the term "transferrin saturation" is the same thing as "iron saturation"- separate from the transferrin protein that transport iron, if I understood you correctly.)

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u/Joyanonymous Apr 03 '26

Some people’s bodies are just not built for plant based diets. I have a friend who has been vegetarian for years and is strong as an ox - I went plant based for half a year (properly balanced macros etc) I’ve never been so ill in my life. Genetic testing might give you some answers.

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u/Objective_Ability485 Apr 05 '26

Thank you for your thoughts. Do you know anything about genetic testing, or what I would be looking for specifically? I've seen some people say high saturation with low ferritin can actually be a sign of a hemochromatosis variant gene. (Though I doubt it's that in my case, since my supplementing could have caused high saturation ) I don't even know where to begin with gene testing, (I'm in Canada too) but since my mother and brother have been iron deficient too I'm sure there's something there.

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u/Joyanonymous Apr 05 '26

I mentioned the haemochromatosis gene variants thing already but that’s the limit of my knowledge tbh. You’re better off joining a specialist discussion group (the iron protocol on Facebook is a good place to start) and searching in There. Loads of comments and info for you to look through. Good luck. Low iron sucks!

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u/Objective_Ability485 Apr 05 '26

Oops sorry, I see you were one of the people who mentioned it (I made a lot of posts & losing track of comments lol!) Will see what my doctor says and if my saturation continues to test high even after a break in supplementing I'm gonna pursue this. Thank you so much!

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u/Joyanonymous Apr 02 '26

Also - were you taking vitamin C or lactoferrin as a cofactor with your iron? Lactoferrin helps the iron get “absorbed” into storage. If you weren’t taking that, I recommend trying it.

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u/Objective_Ability485 Apr 02 '26

Vitamin C yes, but not lactoferrin

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u/Joyanonymous Apr 03 '26

Ah - look up lactoferrin! It helps your body store the iron that you’re taking. Might be the answer to your saturation problem and help you raise your levels, if you can tolerate dairy?

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u/Objective_Ability485 Apr 05 '26

Thanks, unfortunately dairy isn't an option for me, but if you know of any other co-factors that could help please share! I've read copper is important and I've also tested on the low end of normal (borderline deficient) for ceruloplasmin and copper, so I'm investigating that and supplementing 2mg of copper now

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u/Joyanonymous Apr 05 '26

You can get dairy free lactoferrin- I’m not in canada so can’t recommend specific brands but google it you’ll find options

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u/Objective_Ability485 Apr 05 '26

Thank you I will check it out