IRON REPLETION DECREASES MAXIMAL EXERCISE LACTATE CONCENTRATIONS IN FEMALE ATHLETES WITH MINIMAL IRON-DEFICIENCY ANEMIA

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 102  (2) , 306-312
Abstract
The effect of 2 wk of Fe therapy on exercise performance and exercise-induced lactate production was studied in trained women athletes: 6 control subjects with normal parameters of Fe status and 9 with mild Fe-deficiency anemia defined by low Fe/TIBC [total Fe binding capacity] ferritin and minimally decreased HgB values. Fe therapy improved the abnormal measures of Fe status and low Hgb in the 2nd groups to normal. Exercise performance in a progressive work-exercise protocol on a bicycle ergometer to exhaustion was unchanged after Fe therapy in both groups; however, blood lactate levels at maximum exercise in the Fe-deficient group decreased significantly from 10.3 .+-. 0.6 mmol/l before therapy to 8.42 .+-. 0.7 after therapy (P < 0.03). The control subjects did not significantly alter lactate levels after maximal exercise on Fe compared to placebo: 8.3 .+-. 0.8 mmol/l vs. 8.5 .+-. 0.7. Although there was not a significant difference in maximum exercise performance after Fe therapy. Animal experiments implying that Fe may play a role in oxidative metabolism and that minimal decreases in HgB may impair arterial O2 content enough to affect aerobic metabolism were supported. These findings may have important implications for competitive women athletes in whom mild Fe deficiency may go unnoticed.

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