Exactly. Ferritin can get elevated by a lot acutely in response to inflammation and this does not mean the iron stores are increasing. This is why, to get good reflection of iron stores, it’s important to measure ferritin at least a few weeks after getting sick with a cold or flu or else one has to account for a potential false elevation due to inflammation.
That’s pretty close to my estimation of the optimal level based on doing a lot of research into iron. It’s a delicate balance. On one hand, iron is necessary for lots of things, not just to produce hemoglobin. On the other hand, iron is also highly reactive and harmful so excess labile iron causes a lot of harm. The optimal level is relatively narrow. Also just because you have enough iron to maximize hemoglobin concentrations doesn’t mean you have enough. You can still have subclinical deficiency even if you don’t have even the slightest begginning stages of anemia.
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