In general, female endurance athletes suffer with iron deficits and higher iron depletion than men. For female athletes it is important to monitor their iron level and eat special supplements or proper nutrition during training and competition.
Iron is a necessary "evil" to form Hemoglobin, which is the main component for red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen to your muscles. With less oxygen performance decreases.
Research has shown that iron deficits are found with most female high performance endurance athletes and less with male athletes in the same category.
On average 55% of all female athletes suffer from iron deficits or iron anemia. This is more than every second athlete!!! A permanent iron deficits leads to a permanent decrease of the total Hemoglobin in the blood with the result in a iron deficit anemia. Not a lot of oxygen can be transported to the muscles and the performance level decreases.
At this level, the blood binds zinc atoms instead of iron. A proper blood test can measure, based on the parameter zinc protoporphyrin, the level of an iron defict.
Symptoms?
The symptoms of iron deficiency include loss of endurance, chronic fatigue, high exercise heart rate, low power, frequent injury, recurring illness, and loss of interest in exercise and irritability. Other symptoms include poor appetite, and increased incidence and duration of colds and infections. Many of these symptoms are also common to over-training, so misdiagnosis is common. The only sure way to diagnose a deficiency is a blood test to determine iron status. If you experience any of the symptoms above, and you are in one of the higher risk categories, you should visit your physician for lab work.
What can you do to boost your iron level?
Athletes (male or female) have to try to monitor their nutrition. If an athletes has a suppressed hemoglobin value, the supplementation of iron can create an effect like EPO. EPO increases the formation of red blood cells. Supplementation of iron at very low blood iron levels can lead to a similar effect (of course not as strong).
Iron tablets or natural iron?
Iron tablets often lead to digestion problems or diarrhea. The side effects are often so severe that athletes will not continue with the treatment.
Due to these facts it is crucial to find food which contains a high source of natural easy absorbable iron and which can be added easily to anyone's nutrition.
Below a list of food and iron levels:
Nuts (30g): 1.2mg
Sunflower seads (20g): 1.4mg
Yeast Flakes (10g): 1.8mg
Red Meat (100g): 2mg
Carrots (100g): 2mg
Wheat Germs(30g): 2.4mg
Oats (50g): 3mg
Pumpernickel Bread (50g): 3mg
Spinach (100g): 4mg
Spirulina (3g): 4.5mg
Millet (50g): 4.5mg
Soy flakes(50g): 4.5mg
Quinoa (50g): 5.5.mg
Amaranth (50g): 7.5mg
As you can see the list of quality food with sufficient enough iron is selective. A inactive human should intake at least 15mg of iron per day. If you are looking at the list ask your self the question how many gram do you eat of the above products? Not enough I believe!
Several of these products can be found in grocery stores and can be added to your daily meal (cereal, salads etc.). Only a few companies have specialized in using some of these products to create energy bars or drinks.
Why do we have a iron deficiency if some foods contain enough iron and we eat it every day?
A. An inadequate supply of dietary iron,
B. An increased demand for iron due to hard training which stimulates an increase in red blood cells and blood vessel production,
C. High iron loss due to injury, or menstruation,
D. Heavy sweating,
increases the risk of iron deficiency.
If we look more detailed into the nutritional component, we can find that a human body becomes anemic due the resorption of iron. The body can only absorb bivalent iron (Fe2+). Oxidized iron can not be used. A lot of iron in food is oxidized and the human body can not use it. The only real medication to treat iron deficiency are oral iron preparations which carry a load of the above mentioned side effects. For an athletes it should better to monitor your nutrition and eat some of the natural products like Spirulina, Quinoa and Amaranth to give the body absorbable bivalent iron.
As a good natural supplement with iron I can recommend is Salus Floradix Formula. To find more about the product visit their website under Flora Health. Salus Floradix Formula is an easy to digest liquid solution, a high absorbable iron compound, and the dosage is safe to use over a long term without any side effects!
