The propose of this study was to determine the influence of marathon race on hepcidin excretion in female athletes (age 26–45 years).
Urine samples were taken before, immediately after, 1 and 3 days after the race. In the average, hepcidin transiently increased
at day 1 from 32 to 85 ng/mg creatinine. We propose that the frequently observed iron deficiency of females runners is caused
by elevated hepcidin levels.
Keywords Hepcidin - Marathon - Females - Iron metabolism