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Beef up your iron intake for best performance.


You don't have to be anemic in the classic textbook sense for your iron status to affect your training. Anemia is a deficiency of red blood cells Red blood cells
Cells that carry hemoglobin (the molecule that transports oxygen) and help remove wastes from tissues throughout the body.

Mentioned in: Bone Marrow Transplantation

red blood cells 
 and is measured in various ways--hemoglobin, number of red cells, and hematocrit Hematocrit Definition

The hematocrit measures how much space in the blood is occupied by red blood cells. It is useful when evaluating a person for anemia.
Purpose

Blood is made up of red and white blood cells, and plasma.
. These values can all be within normal limits and yet you may be functionally anemic. Research from Cornell University on 42 iron-depleted, non-anemic women with hemoglobin values in the low-normal range who received either a placebo or 100 milligrams of ferrous sulfate ferrous sulfate or iron (II) sulfate, chemical compound, FeSO4. It is known as the monohydrate, FeSO4·H2O; the tetrahydrate, FeSO4·4H2O; the pentahydrate, FeSO4  (iron supplementation) per day for six weeks in a double blind, randomized ran·dom·ize  
tr.v. ran·dom·ized, ran·dom·iz·ing, ran·dom·iz·es
To make random in arrangement, especially in order to control the variables in an experiment.
 trial showed significant differences on the effect of exercise training. These women had relative anemia or very mild anemia that when corrected with iron, improved their athletic performance.

The women trained for 30 minutes a day, five days a week at 75% to 85% of maximum heart rate for the latter four weeks of the study. Baseline iron status and 15K bicycling times were the same for the two groups. Both groups responded to training over the course of the study, but the iron supplementation group increased iron stores and decreased their 15K time trials significantly as compared to the placebo group. The increasing VO2max in the iron supplemented group was more than twice that of the placebo and equal to that of other studies in which subjects trained for much longer periods.

Anemia is relative and if you are a premenopausal pre·me·no·paus·al
adj.
Of or relating to the years or the stage of life immediately before the onset of menopause.


premenopausal adjective
 competitive female runner, this is something you may wish to discuss with your doctor the next time you have a checkup. If your red blood cell count red blood cell count,
n the number of red blood cells (erthrocytes) in 1 mm3 of blood; a useful diagnostic tool in the determination of several kinds of anemia. See also mean corpuscular hemoglobin.
 (this is the usual screen for anemia many women have done annually) is on the low end of normal, it might show up as functional anemia, impairing running performance. Meanwhile, you may want to increase dietary sources of iron to insure that you are running on a full tank and can enjoy maximum progress from your hard training.

In addition to red meat, try dark poultry meat, and other meats that provide "heme" iron (the form your body absorbs best) and fortified fortified (fôrt´fīd),
adj containing additives more potent than the principal ingredient.
 breads and cereals that provide non-heme iron. Here is a good non-meat trick: cook your spaghetti sauce in an iron skillet. When cast iron is heated, especially in the presence of an acid such as that found in tomatoes, large amounts of elemental iron leach into the sauce. Since tomatoes are also a good source of vitamin C vitamin C
 or ascorbic acid

Water-soluble organic compound important in animal metabolism. Most animals produce it in their bodies, but humans, other primates, and guinea pigs need it in the diet to prevent scurvy.
, and vitamin C is necessary for iron absorption, this cooking method can significantly increase your regular consumption of iron and help keep your iron stores high.

(Journal of Nutrition, 2001, Vol. 131, pp. 676S-690S; Journal of Applied Physiology, 2000, Vol. 88, Issue 3, pp. 1103-1111, E. Randy Eichner MD., Gatorade Sports Science Institute, Sports Science Exchange, 2001, Vol. 14, No. 2)
COPYRIGHT 2002 American Running & Fitness Association
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2002, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:running performance
Publication:Running & FitNews
Article Type:Brief Article
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:Mar 1, 2002
Words:463
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