71: Iron Deficiency in Female Endurance Athletes with Dr Cory Dugan

Your labs came back “normal”… but you’re exhausted, your training feels harder than it should, and something still feels off.Iron deficiency is incredibly common in female endurance athletes and if ferritin isn’t being checked, you could be missing a really important piece of the puzzle.Today on the Endurance Eats Podcast, we’re talking about iron deficiency in endurance athletes, particularly female athletes.I’m joined by Dr. Cory Dugan, a postdoctoral research fellow at the LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center and a researcher in iron deficiency and women’s health. Cory earned his PhD from the University of Western Australia, where his work focused on iron deficiency management and treatment in active females.My goal with this episode, along with my three-part ferritin series on Substack, is to give you the knowledge and language you need to better advocate for yourself at your doctor’s office.We’re breaking down what ferritin actually tells us, why hemoglobin alone doesn’t give us the full picture, why female endurance athletes are especially vulnerable to low iron stores, and what we actually know about iron deficiency, fatigue, and athletic performance.Because being exhausted all the time shouldn’t automatically get written off as “normal.”What You’ll LearnThe difference between iron deficiency, iron deficiency without anemia, and iron deficiency anemia and why knowing the difference mattersWhy your hemoglobin can look completely normal while your iron stores are already running lowWhy ferritin is one of the most important numbers to understand when you’re looking at iron statusWhy there’s still so much disagreement around what counts as “low” ferritinWhy Cory advocates for looking beyond the traditional ferritin cutoff, especially in athletesHow hard training and inflammation can affect ferritin and potentially make your results harder to interpretWhy female endurance athletes have so many overlapping risk factors for iron deficiency, including menstrual blood loss, GI blood loss, sweat losses, foot-strike hemolysis, and exercise-induced changes in iron absorptionAnd if you’ve ever been told your labs are “fine” while you’re still wondering why you feel so tired, this is an episode I really want you to hear.Resources Mentioned My three-part ferritin series on SubstackPART 1: Ferritin: The Number No One Agrees OnPAR 2: Ferritin Low, Everything Else Normal: Now What?PART 3: Iron and Ferritin - Supplementing SmartDr. Cory Dugan’s website Dr. Cory Dugan on Instagram Dr. Cory Dugan on LinkedIn Dr. Cory Dugan’s free iron risk questionnaire Dr. Cory Dugan’s plain-language iron guide for women “The Misogyny of Iron Deficiency” by Dr. Cory Dugan Connect with Me:Follow along for more practical sports nutrition and fueling support: Instagram: @alexlarsonnutritionWebsite: alexlarsonnutrition.comWork with Alex Larson Nutrition: https://alexlarsonnutrition.com/Check out our endurance nutrition tools and resources Don’t Forget to Subscribe!Click that follow button to stay updated on future episodes packed with actionable insights and expert advice for endurance athletes. Leave a quick review to help more endurance athletes find the showHave Questions or Suggestions?Send me a message, and I might cover it in a future episode!This episode of Endurance Eats is brought to you by Alex Larson’s 1:1 Nutrition Coach