<P> Like most mineral nutrients , the majority of the iron absorbed from digested food or supplements is absorbed in the duodenum by enterocytes of the duodenal lining . These cells have special molecules that allow them to move iron into the body . To be absorbed , dietary iron can be absorbed as part of a protein such as heme protein or iron must be in its ferrous Fe form . A ferric reductase enzyme on the enterocytes ' brush border , duodenal cytochrome B ( Dcytb ) , reduces ferric Fe to Fe . A protein called divalent metal transporter 1 ( DMT1 ) , which can transport several divalent metals across the plasma membrane , then transports iron across the enterocyte 's cell membrane into the cell . </P>
where is fe best absorbed in the body
in the duodenum by enterocytes of the duodenal lining