Absolute and Functional Iron Deficiency in Colon Cancer: A Cohort Study.

: Iron is an essential micronutrient for many biological functions and has been found to be intimately linked to cancer biology. Although the effects of increased dietary iron consumption in the development of CRC have been previously investigated in several cohort studies, the available evidence on the involvement of iron deficiency in this process is relatively scarce. Previously published papers did not analyze specific outcomes, such as the presence of biologically aggressive histopathological characteristics, that are associated with the subtypes of iron deficiency.