Iron dysregulation and inflammatory stress erythropoiesis associates with long-term outcome of COVID-19, 2024, Hanson et al

Thanks for comments.

I had recently the standard stool test for blood and that was negative. (Have been getting them every couple of years for a while now as routine screening, because of age. Don't know how definitive they are. Also my stools have always been normal colour, for what that is worth.)

Started taking the iron supplement with orange juice initially, but swapped to a 500mg Vit C tablet. No sugar to deal with, a lot cheaper, and doesn't take up fridge space.

Was already thinking about alternating daily between a Maltofer tablet and eating something iron rich like liver or some beef to minimise the side effects of the Maltofer. So will try that.

One thing I am fairly sure of is that I am not lacking iron in my normal diet to start with. Whether I am able to absorb it properly, or am losing it somehow (e.g. GI bleeding), is another question.

It may be possible it is just going to take a long time to get the levels back up. OTOH, after 3 months of 2 x 100mg Maltofer daily it had barely moved from 6 to 10 (minimum is 35, IIRC).