Know your Ferritin. Know your health.
Test your Ferritin and 100+ other biomarkers in a single blood draw.
Normal range: 20 – 250 ng/mL (higher is better)
Ferritin is your body's iron storage protein. Think of it as your iron savings account. It is the most reliable single marker of iron stores and often drops before any other sign of deficiency appears. The tricky part: ferritin is also an inflammation marker. It rises when the body is fighting infection or dealing with chronic inflammation, which can mask true iron deficiency.
A normal Ferritin is 20 – 250 ng/mL. Higher is better.
Low ferritin is the earliest marker of iron deficiency. It drops before hemoglobin or MCV change, making it useful for catching deficiency early. Blood loss (menstruation, GI bleeding), poor dietary iron, celiac disease, and vegetarian or vegan diets without supplementation are common causes.
High ferritin can indicate iron overload (hemochromatosis), but is more commonly elevated by inflammation, infection, liver disease, or alcohol use. Because ferritin is an acute-phase reactant, it can be misleadingly high when someone is sick. Always interpret it alongside other iron markers like serum iron, TIBC, and iron saturation.
Eating iron-rich foods, supplementing if needed (especially for menstruating women, pregnant women, and vegans), and treating underlying causes of blood loss are the best ways to maintain healthy ferritin. If ferritin is high without an obvious inflammatory cause, genetic testing for hemochromatosis is reasonable.
Ferritin is most highly correlated with Iron binding capacity and ALT. Here are the top biomarkers correlated with Ferritin, based on 500,000 tests done by Empirical Health.
The percentage shows how strongly two biomarkers move together. A higher number means the relationship is stronger. Green = rises and falls together. Orange = one rises as the other falls.
You can test your Ferritin for $190 as part of Empirical's comprehensive health panel, which includes 100 biomarkers.
You can measure your Ferritin for at 2,200+ testing locations across the US. Click below and enter your zip code to browse locations near you.
Test your Ferritin and 100+ other biomarkers in a single blood draw.