Welcome. My name is Divine. This is episode 550 of the Divine Intervention Podcasts.

In today's podcast, we're going to be doing what will be a two-part series. And the title of this podcast is going to be

the Iron Story and the USMLEs. The Iron Story and the USMLEs. The thing is, iron is something that

integrates into so many questions on the exam. So I think it's useful to have a podcast or a series

that truly helps you understand iron.

To be honest with you, if you understand this podcast, there are many things about anemias that will click for you.

And iron regulation would not sound like such a nebulous idea to you anymore.

So the focus of this podcast series will be in two parts. One, I'm going to give a background in iron.

I know you may be like, who cares about a background in iron, but you're going to see why that's

very important. And as I'm making that, as I'm discussing that background, I'm going to be making

a lot of different integrations. And then in the next series, we'll then talk about some iron related disorders.

And you're going to see how everything ties together.

I'm actually really excited about this stuff.

Okay, so how does this whole system work?

Well, you're going to consume iron.

Literally, you consume iron.

You consume iron in your diet.

Now, as that globe of iron moves down your throat,

and then it gets into your esophagus and then into your stomach,

well, where does that iron get absorbed?

Well, it gets absorbed in the small intestine, more specifically in the duodenum. You know, there's some absorption that happens

in the early part of the jejunum, but honestly, for the most part, iron on the USM-Ale's is reabsorbed

...