IRON STORES IN PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES THROUGHOUT THE SPORTS SEASON

Sports anemia provoked by iron deficiency develops slowly and although the existence or reality of this condition is under discussion, the f erritin levels tend to reduce with sports practice. This paper analyze s the variations of iron metabolism, including the organism stores of this metal throughout a sports season in a group of professional sport smen (soccer players) belonging to a team of the Spanish First Divisio n. For the determination of the iron stores, a computer program has be en developed that takes into account the ferritin concentrations, hemo globin, and saturation of transferrin. The results show that at the en d of the season, when the ferric supplementation, which had been perfo rmed at the other moments of analysis, was no longer administered the iron stores reduced significantly, as well as the serum ferritin conce ntration, without such decreases being considered as a prelatent (grad e I) anemia. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.