Putting the Fe into Female Athletes: Insights into Heightened Iron Status and Women's Australian Football Performance-A Case Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Iron deficiency affects up to 70% of female athletes, yet the effectiveness of improving iron status in team sport athletes remains unclear.

Purpose

To evaluate the impact of variations in iron status on physical performance in elite female Australian Rules Football players.

Methods

Iron status was measured in 30 players (age 23 ± 4 y; body mass 70 ± 6 kg) across three time-points of a 24-week season. Players identified as iron deficient non-anemic stage 2 in week 1 received an iron infusion. Remaining players were categorized into heightened iron status (FeUP; iron deficient non-anemic stage 1 players who were advised to take iron supplementation; n = 8) or non-supplemented (Ctrl; week 10: n = 17; week 24: n = 16) groups following week

SUBMITTER: Pengelly M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12115492 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature