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  • Original Article
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Iron supplementation maintains ventilatory threshold and improves energetic efficiency in iron-deficient nonanemic athletes

Abstract

Objective:

To determine the effect of iron supplementation on iron status and endurance capacity.

Design:

Randomized, double-blind iron supplementation.

Setting:

University of Missouri-Columbia and surrounding community.

Subjects:

Twenty iron-deficient (serum ferritin, sFer<16 μg/l; serum transferrin receptor, sTfR>8.0 mg/l; or sTfR/log sFer index >4.5), nonanemic (hemoglobin, Hb>120 g/l, women; >130 g/l, men) men and women (18–41 years) were recruited via fliers and newspaper advertisements; 20 of 31 eligible subjects participated.

Interventions:

A 30 mg measure of elemental iron as ferrous sulfate or placebo daily for 6 weeks.

Results:

Dietary iron intake and physical activity did not differ between groups before or after supplementation. Iron supplementation significantly increased sFer compared to placebo (P=0.01), but did not affect Hb or hematocrit. Iron supplementation prevented the decline in ventilatory threshold (VT) observed in the placebo group from pre- to post-supplementation (P=0.01); this effect was greater in individuals with lower sFer before intervention (P<0.05). Changes in sFer from pre- to post-treatment were positively correlated with changes in VT (P=0.03), independent of supplementation. The iron group significantly increased gross energetic efficiency during the submaximal test (P=0.04). Changes in sFer were negatively correlated with changes in average respiratory exchange ratio during the submaximal test (P<0.05).

Conclusions:

Iron supplementation significantly improves iron status and endurance capacity in iron-deficient, nonanemic trained male and female subjects.

Sponsorship:

Missouri University Alumni Association, by the Elizabeth Hegarty Foundation and by the Department of Nutritional Sciences.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the expertise of Dr Tom Thomas and Dr Rich Cox. We thank Scott Rector for his assistance with the phlebotomy and exercise testing and Denise Vultee for her help in preparing this manuscript.

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Authors

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Correspondence to P S Hinton.

Additional information

Guarantor: PS Hinton.

Contributors: PSH contributed to the design of the experiment, analysis of the data and assisted with writing and editing the manuscript. LMS collected and analyzed the data and contributed to the writing of the manuscript.

The authors have no conflicts of interest.

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Hinton, P., Sinclair, L. Iron supplementation maintains ventilatory threshold and improves energetic efficiency in iron-deficient nonanemic athletes. Eur J Clin Nutr 61, 30–39 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602479

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