June 7, 2026, 5:00 am | Read time: 4 minutes
For me, Rudi Völler is an absolute soccer legend. World champion, once one of the best strikers in the world, later national coach, and still an important figure in German soccer as the DFB sports director. I was all the more delighted when I recently had the opportunity to speak with him. However, the topic was not soccer, but dietary supplements.
As a DFB sports director, you spend a lot of time where many people are: in stadiums, traveling, at appointments, in conversations. For Rudi Völler, this means contacts, handshakes, selfies, and brief encounters every weekend. These are actually good conditions to catch something regularly. As he tells me, this has hardly happened to him in recent years. Hardly ever a cold or even the flu. Völler sees a possible reason in a dietary supplement he has been taking since his COVID-19 illness: lactoferrin, an iron-binding glycoprotein found mainly in the colostrum of mammals.
Rudi Völler: “I feel less tired and rarely get sick”
“I was sick for a week,” Völler says about his COVID-19 infection. The course was not dramatic, but he wanted to “get back on his feet” afterward. His wife Sabrina introduced him to lactoferrin. “She took it, and then I did too. I was quickly back to being really fit.” He is usually cautious with dietary supplements. “Like many other people in Germany, I am initially careful and skeptical before taking something,” he explains to me. But with lactoferrin, he has a good feeling.
Since then, he has been taking lactoferrin regularly–and he feels it makes a difference. “I feel less tired.” He also perceives his concentration as better. Above all, Völler says he has hardly been sick in the past three years. And: He did not have a cold or flu last winter. “Whether it really is due to lactoferrin or not, I cannot judge.”
For Völler, lactoferrin has become a fixed part of his routine. “Now, in my mid-60s, I notice that just exercising is no longer enough and that some things can no longer be achieved through normal food intake. You have to include a few other things.”
What do studies say about lactoferrin?
Lactoferrin has been well-studied scientifically, especially in connection with inflammation and iron metabolism.1,2 Studies suggest that it can improve hemoglobin in cases of iron deficiency or low hemoglobin levels. In several studies, ferritin levels also increased–an indication of better-filled iron stores.3 At the same time, human studies show that lactoferrin can lower inflammation markers like interleukin-6. Therefore, lactoferrin likely does not act like a classic iron supplement but rather regulates: It could dampen inflammation and thereby help make iron more available in the body.4
The renowned sports and nutrition physician Dr. Lutz Graumann told me he always uses lactoferrin when ferritin is low. “The mechanism is also very well explainable.”
When ferritin is low, fatigue and performance weakness can occur, even if the hemoglobin level is still normal and there is no iron deficiency anemia. If this played a role for Rudi Völler, lactoferrin would be a plausible explanation for why he felt less tired. “That is even the most likely explanation,” Dr. Lutz Graumann explains to me.
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Does lactoferrin help with respiratory infections?
During the coronavirus pandemic, researchers became increasingly interested in lactoferrin and its potential antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects. But Graumann says: “With respiratory infections, I have to temper the enthusiasm a bit.” You can try it, but the study situation is not good. Moreover, many studies in this area are funded by manufacturers.
Looking at the summarized study situation, it shows: In infants and children, there are indications of fewer infections. In adults, such a benefit has not yet been clearly demonstrated. In connection with COVID-19, there were at least initial indications of an improvement in fatigue symptoms, but not beyond that.5
Interestingly, studies suggest that lactoferrin may have a beneficial effect on gut flora, promoting beneficial bacteria while inhibiting pathogens.6,7
Lactoferrin: Dosage and possible side effects
As a dietary supplement, doses between 200 and 400 milligrams are usually used. While it can occasionally cause gastrointestinal issues, the substance is otherwise well-tolerated. “If it is cleanly produced, you cannot initially do any harm to the body with lactoferrin in these amounts.”