Effects of a Modified Diet on Iron Status, Menstrual Health, Injury Status, and Aerobic Performance in Adolescent Female Football Players: A 12-Week Controlled Intervention Study

Abstract

Background: Female football players face high iron insufficiency from poor nutrition, menstrual blood loss, and training stress, reducing performance. The objective was to assess iron status, menstrual health, injury status and aerobic performance of adolescent female football players following 12 weeks of intervention.
Materials and Methods: The study conducted on randomly selected 120 female football players (age: 16–18 years), parted into (i) Control group (CG; n = 40), (ii) Training with Normal Diet Group (TNDG; n = 40), and (iii) Training with Modified diet group (TMDG; n=40). The CG received no training, whereas the TNDG and TMDG followed training (2 hrs/d, 5d/week) for 12 weeks. The CG and TNDG consumed regular diet, whereas TMDG consumed modified diet enrich with folic acid, iron, vitamin B12. Socio- economic and injury status was done at baseline; menstrual health, nutritional status, VO2max, haemoglobin (Hb), haematocrit (Hct), and serum ferritin (SF) were assessed at 0 and 12 week.
Results: In TMDG, dietary iron, folic acid, vitamin B12, Hb, HCT, SF and VO2max, showed a significant (p<0.05) improvement than TNDG and CG after 12 weeks. The TNDG and TMDG showed more prevalent menstrual irregularity and heavy bleeding than CG. About 50% reduction in participation in sports was noted during menstruation. In injury, there is no significant difference between TNDG and TMDG. In TMDG dietary iron, folic acid, and vitamin B12 showed significant positive correlations (p<0.05) with Hb, Hct, SF, VO2max.
Conclusion: Modified diet rich in iron, folic acid, vitamin B12 and protein may enhance iron status and aerobic performance of female soccer players.