Iron for Runners: What You Need to Know with Pam Hinton

As runners, we strive to do our best and we know how important nutrition is to running our best. Yet, we often hear about how many runners don’t get enough vitamins and minerals in their diet.

In today’s episode, you’ll learn more about nutritional deficiencies, the science behind them, and how to correct them once and for all. If you’ve ever wondered whether you need to take iron, calcium or any other supplement, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll also talk about various studies done on bone density, bone loss and nutrition, and their surprising findings, diet recommendations for sports performance, and much more.

Our guest today is Pam Hinton. Pam is an associate professor and director of graduate studies, along with being in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at the University of Missouri, which is where she completed most of her studies that we’ll be discussing.

Pam has done quite a bit of research over the years, and had some incredible insight to share. She’ll be discussing her opinions and professional advice on several different matters, including:

When to start taking supplements and just how much to consume
The workout you could be doing to prevent osteoporosis, strengthen your bones and reverse bone loss at any age
How to get the nutrients you need without gaining weight
Why spacing your supplements is so important
The science between weight training and increasing bone density

Pam has recently covered an amazing study about iron and endurance athletes, the potential negative consequences, and how it can affect your health and endurance. Surprisingly, even if you’re only mildly iron deficient, it still negatively affects your performance. So what can you do? Listen and see for yourself! We include:

What numbers to look out for when checking for iron deficiency
How to avoid iron toxicity
The best foods to eat to increase your iron uptake
Why endurance athletes are at increased risk for iron deficiency
What signs to watch out for in iron deficiency

Besides iron, there are other vitamins and minerals that are crucial to your bodies well-functioning. Pam shares her top supplement recommendations for endurance athletes, and the best sources of minerals and vitamins you may not be getting enough of.

We hope this episode will be as insightful for you as it was for us. For more information about the studies we’ve talked about, visit http://ns.missouri.edu/ or contact Pam at hintonp@missouri.edu.

And lastly, if you have any questions you can email tina@runnersconnect.net or leave us a voice message at (617) 356-7969 or click the voice message button on the right side of the page.

Download directly to iTunes