S3 | E6 - Iron/Ferritin - What you need to know
A Big Thank You
A big thank you goes out to Colorado Children’s Hospital for helping us put this episode together. Every year, we see a large number of athletes who struggle with anemia, low iron, and struggle to find a comprehensive resource in returning to practice and playing at the same level. Megan McCarthy is the program coordinator and a sports dietician for the Children’s Hospital of Colorado. The TRAC (The Running Athlete Clinic) is designed to help athletes move forward from deficiencies, injuries, and has even helped a number of PEAK athletes get back to playing at or above their level of performance before entering the clinic. Megan’s work has been foundational in creating a resource for our team and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Here is a quick breakdown for this episode:
You should be testing your iron quarterly (both men and women!)
You are looking for a number between 50 and 80. Non-athletes may be fine at 25 but runners, especially distance athletes need much higher numbers!
Increasing your dietary iron is a great first course of action (heme-iron from red meat or chicken or legumes, nuts, and seeds for vegetarians)
Oral Supplements like Thorne - bisglycinate is highly recommended
You can take iron before bed - it is slightly better absorbed after breakfast without caffeine!
