Athlete Iron Consumption: Timing Is Everything, But When Is Best?

PURPOSE: The influence of exercise timing on the subsequent inflammatory, hepcidin and iron absorption responses in endurance athletes was examined. METHODS: Sixteen endurance-trained runners (10 male, 6 female) with serum ferritin (sFer) < 50 μg/L completed a 90 min running protocol (65% vV̇O2max) in the morning (AM), and the afternoon (PM), in a crossover design. An iron-fortified fluid labelled with stable iron isotopes (57Fe or 58Fe) was...