What Is The RED-S And Why Is It So Serious?
RED-S refers to the Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport and it needs urgent treatment if recognised. It can have potentially harmful effects to short and long term health, as well as contribute to poor performances in sport.
RED-S is the updated version of The Female Triad and demonstrates that there are more than three factors associated with low energy intake. Thankfully, RED-S can now highlight the physiological effects/dangers for both females and males.
WHAT IS RELATIVE ENERGY DEFICIENCY?
Essentially, this refers to an athlete having an insufficient caloric intake and/or a high energy expenditure, which results in LOW ENERGY AVAILABILITY for the body. Low Energy Availability is where the individual’s dietary intake is insufficient to support the energy expenditure required for normal health, normal daily function and healthy body systems.
WHAT ARE THE DANGERS OF LOW ENERGY AVAILABILITY?
The longer an athlete goes with low energy availability, the worse the impact it is likely to have on their long term health.
If you spend time with lots of endurance sport athletes, it is highly likely you are aware of someone who has RED-S as it is very common.
Typically, these athletes are often injured (with both short and long term issues), train excessively hard all the time, don’t eat enough food, have a number of health issues and are commonly sick.
Some common side effects of this condition, for both sexes, include;
- Altered physiological systems
- Decreased immunity
- Decreased bone density
- Increased likelihood of injury
- Decrease in oral and teeth health
- Decreased protein synthesis
- Decreased muscle strength
- Gut issues
- Changes to mood (irritability, short temper, irrational thoughts, mood swings)
- Depression
- Decrease to immune health
- Increased strain on cardiovascular health
- Chronically dehydrated
FOR ATHLETES
Some changes that may hit home more:
- Decreased athletic performance
- Decreased ability to recover
- Decreased protein synthesis
- Decreased endurance performance
- Often sick and performance plateau
- No adaption in training
FOR FEMALES
Some health risks associated with female athletes include:
- Altered or ceasing in menstrual cycle
- Decrease in oestrogen
- Decrease in progesterone
- Low iron levels
- Early onset of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis
- Low body fat
FOR MALES
Some health risks associated with male athletes includes:
-Decrease in testosterone
-Decreased sex drive
-Decrease in muscle mass
-Increased body fat
-Increased inflammatory markers