Ferritin between 50 and 300: what a healthy-range result means

How it works

A ferritin between 50 and roughly 200 micrograms per litre for women, or 50 and roughly 300 for men, sits in the healthy range for adults, which suggests iron stores are adequate. Typical UK laboratory upper limits sit around these figures, and the British Society for Haematology notes that raised results above them have several possible explanations, inflammation being the most common, because ferritin rises as part of an inflammatory response as well as with iron stores.

Guideline positions

NICE iron deficiency guidance and BSG 2021: adult iron deficiency at ferritin below 30 micrograms per litre. WHO ferritin guidance: below 15 ug/L consistent with deficiency in apparently healthy adults, which is where many laboratory flags still sit, and above 500 ug/L in adults who are unwell may indicate iron overload or other disease. BSG 2021: transferrin saturation read alongside ferritin, with below 20 percent alongside a ferritin of 30 or more consistent with iron deficiency. Ferritin is a positive acute-phase reactant, so inflammation raises it independently of iron stores.

Practical framework

If you feel persistently tired despite a result like this, iron is unlikely to be the explanation on its own, and the fuller picture across the other markers is where the answer usually sits. A transferrin saturation and CRP alongside the ferritin turn one number into a readable picture.

You can read your own numbers against these thresholds with the free blood test result interpreter on this site. It runs entirely on your device, nothing is saved, and pasting your report fills the values in for you.