Iron intake? toxicity?

First of all, have you had your young runner tested? If not, get a CBC + Ferritin done and then look at the situation. You shouldn't just started taking iron for no reason. There are folks who have high iron levels naturally. With that being said, you are correct and it is hard to OD on iron. Ideally, you want their Ferritin level to near 100 and try to keep it there for optimal performance. To achieve 100, they would need to eat red meat and supplement with 300 mg of elemental iron per day. This is totally safe and within normal ranges, but trust me, for max running performance, it needs to be near 100. Take the pills in three does with orange juice spread out over the day.

But first up, get the test done and see where their Ferritin level is.

Good luck!

The answer is simple. Do an iron blood test.

And supplement with iron pils and then do the test again 6 weeks later.

The level of iron rises very slow and once it's to high it causes liver damage.

Also vitamine c is very important for the body to take inthe iron.

also watch out for Magneto...

Most doctors will tell you that they have never seen an endurance athlete with iron levels too high.

Sedentary Joe Six Pack who decides to take iron pills is a different story altogether.

I suffered low iron levels this past fall. I was struggling through workouts, and races. I got tested, my level was at 21. Low, but not dangerously low. When doctors talk about low levels, they usually talk about the average person. I think they really don't understand the difference between the average person and a runner.

Nonetheless, I was in a tough spot. I was 7 weeks out from my final high school state xc meet, and I was low on iron. It was even tougher as doctors, coaches, and parents all wanted me to do something different. My coaches wanted me on pills asap and as much as possible. The doctor said it could rise through diet. My parents and I were stuck in the middle of this. But we decided on diet.

I doubted if it would work. But adding a multi-vitamin with 85% of my daily iron values, and then getting about another 150% through meals really worked. And in this time period, I just did base mileage and tempos for 3 weeks, and then didn't race until 4 weeks after I figured out my level, but I came back stronger than I had been all season.

My advice--Don't get caught up on quick fixes such as pills and liquid. You can fix it through diet, and in the process, become a healthy person overall.

Do not take any synthetic supplement. Period. Everything can be achieved through diet. See a board certified naturopath in your area.

liquid isnt a quick fix. iron is best absorbed in your body in the liquid form with vitamin c..mix orange juice, emergency (or a crushed vit c pill) and liquid iron. take it 30 mins before a meal.

its very very hard to od on it. youll be fine. i know guys that do what i just said twice/day

Iron toxicity doesn't mean your ferritin or hemoglobin is too high, it means the iron is left floating around in the body "unbound"...basically not being used to make new red blood cells.

Sometimes you can take tons of extra iron and have no increase in ferritin. Where did all the iron go? It's still floating around in the body not being used for anything, which is VERY bad. Worse than not having enough. This is iron toxicity. It won't show up by just taking a hemoglobin or ferritin test.

To combat this you have to take everything the body needs to make red blood cells. This includes iron, B12, and folic acid. Also vitamin C to help with absorption. No matter how much iron you take in if you are deficient in folic acid or B12 your body can't make red blood cells. The iron will wreck havoc as it has nothing else to do. Instead of taking extra iron pills take a folic acid and a B12 and a C. Preferably take a multivitamin as well just in case.

It's all very complicated.

OP - from your post it is very difficult to give good advice. Without numbers, it is unclear what is meant by 'low on iron.' Is the runner anemic with a low hemoglobin and hematocrit? Or is he not anemic but just has a low ferritin or serum iron level? And why is he low? Iron deficiency is quite uncommon among young males - although it also isn't clear what you mean by young - is the kid in junior high or high school or college? If he is low, why? Diet? Blood loss?

Iron pills also come in a lot of different sizes, even at WalMart. I'm guessing that by standard you mean 325 mg of ferrous sulfate.

There is little advantage to having him take 2 or 3 pills a day. The gut actually will regulate iron absorption, and if you are taking an excess of iron, almost all of it will just be excreted in the feces. This is why you won't die of iron overload if you eat a lot of meat. But that much iron, 2 or 3 pills a day, will also cause a lot more gastric upset and constipation. The danger of iron overload is probably quite small in this situation, but there is just no benefit to loading up like this. The anemia or iron deficiency won't correct 2 or 3 times faster by taking 2 or 3 times the dose. And if the runner experiences side effects, which is likely, he will probably stop taking them anyway, which will make things worse tif you'd just taken one. Believe me, we try to get pregnant and post-partum women to take iron all the time, and compliance is terrible.

It is certainly possible to overwhelm the guts regulatory mechanism and get acute iron toxicity - if you take a whole bottle of iron, you can actually kill yourself in a most unpleasant fashion. But that is not going to happen with 2 or 3 pills a day. But there is just no reason to take 2 or 3 times more than the body is going to absorb.

I was anemic twice in hs. First time I was prescribed 1 325mg/day with 500mg vit c. Once my levels rose back to "normal" my doc took me off it all together and about 6 months later I was almost back to where I started. That time I went to a hematologist, was prescribed 3 325 with vit c/day. Made all the difference in the world. Yes, I was constipated often, but i felt a lot better and ran A LOT faster. Iron is my friend...

Just like Jack Kerouac wrote:

Most doctors will tell you that they have never seen an endurance athlete with iron levels too high.

Sedentary Joe Six Pack who decides to take iron pills is a different story altogether.

If you don't know anything on the subject, don't claim to. Ever heard of hemochromatosis? Yeah... "Most doctors" know what that is. Look it up and learn about it, a$$hole.

There's no point taking iron unless you know you're low. Serum ferritin test is the thing. Might as well get the full blood count done at the same time.

It is hard to take too much iron... but at the same time it's completely pointless if you have enough iron from your diet (as most people do).

Most people maybe, but not most runners.

I can't site a source for this but have seen this mentioned by several knowledgeable doctors and coaches on the subject.

75% of Girl runners have low iron

45% of Boy runners have low iron