Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of iron therapy on oxidative stress, ghrelin and nesfatin-1 levels in patients with iron deficiency anemia (IDA).

Materials and Methods: Thirty patients who applied to Internal Medicine Clinic and were diagnosed with IDA and 30 healthy individuals as a control were included in the study. The samples were collected from IDA patients before and after 3 month treatment. Differences in serum malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and ghrelin, nesfatin-1 levels were analyzed among the three groups.

Results: In pre-treatment stage, serum MDA and nesfatin-1 levels of the IDA patients were statistically higher than in the control group, and TAC and ghrelin levels were significantly lower (p<0.05). After iron deficiency treatment, it was determined that iron decreased the levels of MDA, an indicator of oxidative stress, and significantly increased the levels of TAC in patients with IDA (p<0.05). It was determined that it increased the ghrelin levels and decreased the nesfatin-1 levels while the latest remaining higher than the control group (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Serum ghrelin and nesfatin-1 levels increase with iron treatment in IDA patients. The iron therapy induces the synthesis of ghrelin and nesfatin-1 in human body, thus causes increased appetite and food intake.