If a rower has an adequately balanced diet, it is not necessary to take a vitamin/mineral supplement to
supply recommended amounts of these regulatory nutrients. The one exception to this might be iron and
calcium, which females may need to supplement. In a mixed diet of 1,000 calories, one can expect to
receive about 6mg of iron. Since the pre-menopause female requires about 15mg of iron per day, she
would have to ingest about 2,500 calories daily, to provide an adequate iron intake. Most oarswomen will
eat at this level, and probably even higher, but a lightweight female rower may be consistently below this
level of calorie intake and she may need to discuss an iron or calcium supplement with her doctor.
Rowers may wish to consume vitamin C at a level somewhat higher than the RDA for this vitamin. Some
research suggests that athletes should consume 3mg of vitamin C per kilogramme of body weight, rather
than the RDA of 60mg. A diet that includes four to five servings of the following fruits and vegetables that
are rich in vitamin C should easily meet the need:
- Citrus fruit and juice.
- Cantaloupe and watermelon.
- Strawberries.
- Broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts.
- Cabbage.
- Tomatoes.
Example: If a rower weighs 82 kilogrammes his/her vitamin C requirement would be 82 x 3 or 246mg
vitamin C per day. This could easily be obtained through:
| | Mg of Vitamin C |
| 1/2 pint of orange juice | 120 |
| 1 medium tomato | 22 |
| 1/2 cup cooked broccoli | 49 |
| 1/4 of a cantaloupe melon | 68 |
| Total | 257 |
Including enough fruits and vegetables to meet this higher vitamin C level would have the added
advantage of also including the minerals potassium and magnesium, which were low in the diets of many
national rowing team candidates studied recently. As noted previously, fruits and vegetables also provide a
rich supply of carbohydrates.
Whenever possible, vitamins and minerals are best obtained from food rather than from supplements. In
foods, they come packaged with other nutrients important to good health. Furthermore, when these
nutrients come in food, there is little if any danger of ingesting such high levels as to be toxic to the body.
The same cannot always be said for supplements, which are often taken in amounts great enough to be
dangerous to normal body function.
If a rower for one reason or another however, is unable to eat an optimally balanced diet, he or she may
wish to consider a vitamin/mineral supplement. The best advice is to choose an all-purpose "one a day"
supplement that provides between 50 and 100% of the RDA for the given vitamins and minerals. In
combination with nutrients received from the diet, this should provide a safe level of supplementation. It is
wise to check with a doctor before supplementing iron to the diet.
