Low Phytic Acid Pea Supplementation As an Approach to Combating Iron Deficiency in Female Runners: A Randomized Control Trial

Iron deficiency (ID) is the most prevalent micronutrient deficiency in the world and the leading cause of anemia globally. Female athletes are at a disproportionate risk for ID due to blood loss through menstruation and decreased iron absorption secondary to exercise. Field peas are a rich source of iron but, similar to iron from other plant-based sources, the iron has limited bioavailability due to high levels of phytic acid, an inherent compound that binds to cations, creating a salt (phytate), which limits absorption during digestion. The purpose of our research was to investigate the effect of a field pea variety bred to have low levels of phytic acid on plasma ferritin, exercise performance, and body composition in female runners. Twenty-eight female runners (age:34.6  ±  9.7 years; weight: 65.1  ±  8.1 kg; VOmax: 50.7  ±  8.9 ml/kg/min) underwent measures of ferritin, exercise performance, and body composition before and after being randomly assigned to consume a powder derived from regular peas, low phytic acid peas, or a non-pea control (maltodextrin), plus vitamin C for 8 weeks. The regular pea and low phytic acid pea groups had a 14.4% and 5.1% increase in plasma ferritin, respectively, while the maltodextrin group had a decrease of 2.2%; however, the difference in changes between groups was not statistically significant. No differences between groups were evident in any of the other measures. Larger doses or longer duration of pea supplementation may be necessary to induce meaningful changes in iron status. This trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04872140).