Vitamin E and iron supplementation in competitive athletes

Sixteen first division basketball players participated in this research project, giving their written consent. They were randomly divided into two groups: experimental (E), supplemented daily with 30 mg of vitamin E and 20 mg of iron and the control group (C), which did not receive any mineral or vitamin supplements. The supplementation period lasted for 8 weeks. During this period of time all of the players conducted the same training program.. In all of these subjects maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), anaerobic threshold (VE – ventilatory, LA – lactate method) and the level of hemoglobin were evaluated before and after the 8 week experimental period. As the results show, there were no statistically significant changes in the three considered variables for both the experimental (supplemented) and the control groups. Despite the lack of statistical significance a 5,10% increase in VO2max in the E group may be of great importance while the improvement for the C group was 3 times smaller and equaled only 1,32%. A similar tendency was observed in the level of AT where the E group improved 3,95% while no change at all was observed for the C group. The level of Hb, increased in the E group by 2,61% while the C group registered a minimal drop in that variable. It seems that the lack of statistical significance can not rule out the possibility of an ergogenic effect of vitamin E and iron in competitive athletes.