I recently consulted with three different athletes who complained of fatigue, injuries and/or lack of appetite and all three had ferritin levels of less than 7 ng/mL. I consulted with another athlete who desired a change in body composition who had a ferritin level of 437 ng/mL.
Ferritin is an intracellular protein that stores iron in the body. For athletes, recommended ‘normal’ ferritin levels are very different from the sedentary. "Normal" ferritin levels are 12-300 ng/ml for men and 12-150 ng/ml for women but from my experience, most athletes will feel they perform (and feel the best) with ferritin levels of 50-100 ng/ml.
I'm happy to announce that I've partnered with Athlete Blood Test as my go-to blood testing company for my nutrition consultations. ABT provides individually-tailored, athlete-focused blood biomarker testing to help athletes dial in nutrition, recovery, training and performance. Even more exciting for the female athletes, the Athlete Blood Test She (ABT.she) blood analysis panel empowers women to better understand their physiology by analyzing female-specific sex hormones (ex. estrogen, progesterone, luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone). ABT.she takes into account where you are in your menstrual cycle when analyzing biomarker levels.
In the long run, "testing and not guessing" is a quick, reliable and straightforward way of receiving a powerful amount of personalized information that can ultimately help you maximize health, overall well-being and performance.