Although both diets altered hepatic fatty acid composition, they operated through fundamentally distinct mechanisms.<h4>Conclusions</h4>These findings demonstrate that moderate iron deficiency and high iron intake disrupt hepatic lipid metabolism via different pathways: FeD primarily through systemic adaptations leading to post-translational constraints on iron-dependent enzymes, whereas FeH acts through direct transcriptional activation of hepatic <i>de novo</i> lipogenesis, potentially involving hepcidin-mediated cross-talk. Here, HAMP is linked to Iron deficiency anemia.