To the idea of iron being a potent probiotic-
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/9/1926
“The first studies that determined the impact of iron on the microbiota date back to the 1980s and were conducted in infants (Table 1). These studies aimed to analyze the effect of iron on neonatal gut microbiota over the first week [67] or the first three months of life [68]. Thus, the first study compared the microbiota of stool samples of infants (n = 23) from Utrecht (The Netherlands) who received a cow’s milk preparation supplemented with iron (5 mg/L), an unfortified cow’s milk preparation or breast milk in the prior 7 days of life. Results from this study revealed that infants fed with breast milk showed high level of Bifidobacteria and low levels of Enterobacteriaceae, Bacteroides, and Clostridia. Regarding the infants fed with cow’s milk formulations, those who received iron-fortified milk showed high levels of Enterobacteriaceae, Bifidobacteria and putrefactive bacteria such as Bacteroides and Clostridia, whereas those who received unfortified milk presented a slow increase in both Enterobacteriaceae and Bifidobacteria counts. These results seemed to indicate that iron may favor gut colonization and low iron content enhances the resistance of the neonatal gut to colonization [67]”
Author
