Iron Status and female athletes
... The minerals that seem to be found in deficient amounts in endurance athletes are iron, calcium, and zinc (lecture notes). The purpose of this paper is to discuss a few studies that have been done concerning iron deficiencies in female endurance athletes. ... In the year 2000, the number of female high school athletes had surged to 2,675,874(Lumpkin 2002). ... An important mineral that many female athletes tend to be deficient in is iron. Iron deficiency in the western world is usually due to over consumption of foods rich in sugar and fat and poor in nutrients (Sizer and Whitney). Most of the iron in the blood is a component of the proteins hemoglobin in red blood cells and myoglobin in muscle cells.