Albertine Donker

Chapter 2 52 In the first and second section we briefly review the main functions of iron in the human body and the current insights regarding systemic iron homeostasis - with a focus on the key role of the iron regulating hormone hepcidin-, respectively. In the third section we consider the various organs and physiologic systems that require a balanced iron status in order to achieve growing and developmental tasks that are typical for childhood. In the fourth section we discuss the specific challenges regarding iron and iron handling for the different developmental phases of childhood, from fetus to adult. In the final section we summarize the identified research gaps and explore future research to address these gaps in order to obtain a better insight in the critical roles of iron and iron handling in children, with the ultimate goal of improving diagnosis and management of ID and other iron disorders in childhood worldwide.