Women and pumping iron.

No, not weight lifting, but pumping more iron into your body. Iron deficiency anemia is not uncommon among women and impedes sports performance. Because iron helps carry oxygen to working muscles, lack of iron results in early fatigue.

Women in their forties and early fifties (perimenopausal women) may have their first problems with iron deficiency. The perimenopausal years (this is the time when estrogen production begins to abate and menstrual cycles and symptoms can change) can come with unusually heavy bleeding and shorter cycles. More frequent bleeding can make it harder for women to avoid anemia. Teenage girls can also outpace their need for iron by growing fast and neglecting a good diet.

The best sources of iron are meats, especially beef, lamb, organ meats like liver, and skinless dark meat from poultry. However, if you don't eat meat or want to limit your intake there are other ways to pump up your iron intake. One cup of refried beans has at least as much iron as four ounces of beef. However, the iron in meat is more bio-available (easier to absorb) than the iron in beans. Cooking acidic foods like tomatoes or applesauce in cast iron skillets can be a good alternative source. The iron content of applesauce cooked in an iron pot is 22 mg per half cup, 11 times more than when prepared in glass. Even non-acidic foods can increase iron content by five times when cooked in an iron pot.

Breads and cereals marked "iron fortified" are also good sources. Remember to include vitamin C in the form of fruit or juice to improve iron absorption. And don't drink caffeine-containing beverages with every meal--they can interfere with iron absorption.

Some individuals have the opposite problem. One in 250 to 300 people has hereditary hemochromatosis, a genetic condition in which too much iron is stored and can result in greater health risks. But it is much more likely for most pre-menpausal athletes to run a little low.

It doesn't hurt to ask your doctor to check your hematocrit (the percentage of red blood cells) when you have your annual Pap smear. Prevention with diet--seeking out good sources of iron--is your very best bet.

(Parts of this article were excerpted from Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, 1997, Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, 455 pp. $15.95 available at 800-776-2732. American Running members get a 20% discount.)