Exercise, nutrition and iron status

Abstract

Iron deficiency is still a problem in developing countries as well as developed countries. Moreover, an athletic population has a high rate of iron deficiency anemia; most of whom participate in aerobic exercise. Therefore, most studies which have been conducted to investigate the effect of exercise on iron status have used aerobic exercise. A considerable number of studies suggest that aerobic exercise has harmful effects on the iron levels in the body. Therefore, most of the studies on improving iron deficiency focus on the effect of nutrition. However, mild resistance exercise improves iron status in the body. These results suggest the possibility of a difference in the effect of different types of exercise on iron status. Exercise would be economically advantageous as a measure to improve iron deficiency in developing countries that have a high rate of iron deficiency. Future studies might thus be needed to clarify the relationship between iron status and physical activity.

Keywords

• iron deficiency
• exercise
• hemoglobin
• heme synthesis
• nutrition
• anemia