Effects of Pomegranate Juice Supplementation on Oxidative Stress Biomarkers Following Weightlifting Exercise
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Research Unit: Education, Motricity, Sport and health, UR15JS01, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
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Institute of Sport Science, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg 39106, Germany
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Laboratory of Biochemistry, CHU Habib Bourguiba, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
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Research Center on Sport and Movement (Centre de Recherches sur le Sport et le Mouvement, CeRSM), UPL, Univ Paris Nanterre, UFR STAPS, Nanterre F-92000, France
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High Institute of Biotechnology, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
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National Observatory of Sport, Tunis 1003, Tunisia
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School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3AJ, UK
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Department of Community Medicine and Epidemiology, Hédi Chaker Hospital, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nutrients 2017, 9(8), 819; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9080819
Received: 9 June 2017 / Revised: 15 July 2017 / Accepted: 21 July 2017 / Published: 29 July 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antioxidants in Health and Disease)
The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that pomegranate juice supplementation would blunt acute and delayed oxidative stress responses after a weightlifting training session. Nine elite weightlifters (21.0 ± 1 years) performed two Olympic-Weightlifting sessions after ingesting either the placebo or pomegranate juice supplements. Venous blood samples were collected at rest and 3 min and 48 h after each session. Compared to the placebo condition, pomegranate juice supplementation attenuated the increase in malondialdehyde (−12.5%; p < 0.01) and enhanced the enzymatic (+8.6% for catalase and +6.8% for glutathione peroxidase; p < 0.05) and non-enzymatic (+12.6% for uric acid and +5.7% for total bilirubin; p < 0.01) antioxidant responses shortly (3 min) after completion of the training session. Additionally, during the 48 h recovery period, pomegranate juice supplementation accelerated (p < 0.05) the recovery kinetics of the malondialdehyde (5.6%) and the enzymatic antioxidant defenses compared to the placebo condition (9 to 10%). In conclusion, supplementation with pomegranate juice has the potential to attenuate oxidative stress by enhancing antioxidant responses assessed acutely and up to 48 h following an intensive weightlifting training session. Therefore, elite weightlifters might benefit from blunted oxidative stress responses following intensive weightlifting sessions, which could have implications for recovery between training sessions.
Keywords:
lipid peroxidation; power training; polyphenol; antioxidant