Lipotoxicity and dietary inadequacies have been associated to Fe dyshomeostasis in obesity. In this study, our hypothesis is that dietary Mg restriction can modify the Fe concentrations and ferroportin-1 (FPN1) expression in tissues related with body Fe storage (liver, spleen) in rats fed a high-fat (HF) diet. Weanling male Wistar rats (n = 48) were fed control (ad libitum and pair-fed) or HF (adequate or Mg-restricted; 500 and 150 mg Mg/kg, respectively) diets for 4 weeks. Epididymal and retroperitoneal fat pads were collected, weighed and the adiposity index was determined. Serum Fe (colorimetric assay) and tissue Fe (atomic absorption spectrophotometry) were analyzed. Liver and spleen FPN1 expressions were determined by immunoblotting. HF feeding increased adiposity irrespective of dietary Mg level. There were no differences in serum and liver Fe concentrations among groups. However, HF animals had higher spleen Fe which was decreased in Mg-restricted animals to similar levels of controls. Moreover, body adiposity was associated with serum (r = –0.31, P = 0.04) and spleen (r = 0.29, P = 0.05) but not with liver Fe concentrations (r = 0.28, P = 0.47). The unaltered tissue FPN1 expression relative to increased spleen Fe levels suggests increased Fe recycling to bone marrow in the Mg-restricted animals. The results indicate that Mg restriction led to tissue Fe redistribution in HF animals. The consequences of these findings on erythropoiesis and conditions related with diet-induced obesity would be clarified in a long-term study.