The above underscored the need for a systematic review of all the available trials. The antioxidants that were used varied from vitamin supplements such as vitamins C and E; whole foods such as blueberry smoothies and pomegranate juice; tea and extracts such as curcumin which is found in Turmeric.

The doses consumed were higher than the recommended daily amount, and the type of exercise undertaken also varied but was enough to induce muscle soreness. The majority of these studies had design features that carried a high risk of bias, or in other words had problems with selective reporting and poorly described allocation concealment, potentially limiting the reliability of their findings.

Overall, our review found that antioxidant supplementation might reduce muscle soreness very slightly in the first three days after exercise. However, these reductions were so small that they were unlikely to make any difference. Of the studies we looked at, only nine reported adverse effects.

Two of these found some people who took antioxidants experienced gastrointestinal distress — such as diarrhoea, indigestion and bloating.

On top of our findings, there has also been an emergence of studies showing that chronic antioxidant supplementation may actually be counterproductive. For instance, it has been shown that antioxidant supplements may delay healing and recovery from exercise Teixeira et al.

Taking all of this into consideration, antioxidants supplements are perhaps a waste of money. Instead, move more; exercise regularly; eat a balanced diet; one that includes at least five or more portions of rainbow-coloured fruits and vegetables.

Because for now at least, there appears to be no quick fix to easing muscle soreness after exercise. In fact, it seems muscle soreness is actually an important part of the recovery process, and helps to make your muscles stronger and bigger over time.

Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Gluud LL, Simonetti RG, Gluud C. Mortality in randomized trials of antioxidant supplements for primary and secondary prevention: systematic review and meta-analysis.

JAMA ; 8 : — Paulsen G, Cumming KT, Holden G, Hallén J, Rønnestad BR, Sveen O, et al. Reuters Health - - Consuming lots of antioxidants through foods or supplements may not reduce muscle soreness after exercise, a research review suggests. Researchers focused on "delayed onset muscle soreness," the type of muscle pain or tenderness that typically peaks 24 to 72 hours after a strenuous workout.

Some previous research has linked antioxidants to the prevention of cellular damage that can potentially result in sore muscles, but results have been mixed. Data for the current analysis came from 50 studies with a total of 1, participants, ages 16 to Across all of these studies, researchers didn't find a meaningful connection between antioxidants in foods or supplements and the amount of muscle soreness at 6, 24, 48, 72, or 96 hours after workouts.

Antioxidant supplements are often marketed in health food stores as a workout recovery aid. The idea that they antioxidants might ease muscle soreness after intense workouts stems from their role in potentially halting or slowing the development of what's known as oxidative stress, researchers note in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

As the body uses oxygen, it produces by-products called free radicals that can damage cells and tissues. Specifically, ingestion of a whey protein supplement has been shown to enhance recovery of muscle function within 24 h of eccentric exercise in untrained individuals [ 17 ].

This enhanced recovery is likely due to elevated levels of free amino acids in the blood leading to increased protein synthesis and attenuated protein breakdown [ 22 ]. Additionally, protein supplementation increases satellite cell proliferation following recovery from eccentric exercise [ 23 ], a phenomenon important for the recovery of force generation [ 24 ].

Sixty male college-aged students, aged 18—30, were recruited by public advertisement and word-of-mouth. Participants were relatively sedentary and did not engage in regular physical activity more than twice per week for the purpose of improving or maintaining their physical fitness.

Participants had not undertaken resistance training of the quadriceps muscles and had not experienced delayed onset muscle soreness DOMS in their quadriceps muscles during the 3 months prior to the start of the study.

Participants were free of knee, quadriceps, and other musculoskeletal, or medical problems which could interfere with their ability to perform the required exercise.

Participants could not have had a previous allergic or sensitivity response to dairy proteins. All volunteers completed a Health History Questionnaire and physical activity readiness questionnaire PAR-Q to assess for eligibility and provided written informed consent. Approval for this study was granted by the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board of Skidmore College IRB — and is in agreement with the Declaration of Helsinki as revised in This study was conducted using a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel design Fig.

Subjects were randomly assigned to consume ml of sugar flavored water CHO control; 31 g of Country Time Berry Lemonade, H. Heinz Company Brands LLC. Carbohydrate was chosen as a control as CHO supplementation has not been demonstrated to enhance or impair the recovery from eccentric exercise [ 27 , 28 ].

Supplements were consumed within a 2 min period after the ECC, and then immediately after the assessments at 6 h, as well as within 2 h prior to the 24 h assessment. To minimize the impact of diet, all subjects were given an example low antioxidant diet to follow for the day preceding and the day of the study See Additional file 1 : Table S1.

To assess dietary intakes between groups and determine compliance a 2 day dietary record was obtained over the study period and analyzed. To characterize the participants, height and weight were measured using standard techniques and body fat percentage, body fat mass, and fat-free mass were measured using the air displacement plethysmography technique BodPod, Cosmed, Chicago, IL.

Subjects reported to the lab after an overnight fast ~12 a. Assessments of peak isokinetic torque PIKT and peak isometric torque PIMT of the knee extensor muscles of the right leg, as well as perceived muscle soreness MS and thigh circumference measures were obtained prior to the performance of maximal ECCs of the knee extensors of the right leg, immediately after ECC, and at 1, 2, 6, and 24 h post-ECC Fig.

All measurements were obtained from the right leg on all study participants and all non-involved body parts were immobilized throughout all Cybex testing to remove superfluous movement. Both static and dynamic muscle actions were chosen as previous research has suggested the temporal response between muscle actions may differ [ 6 ], and dynamic muscle actions more closely mimic those often used in sport or occupational performance.

PIKT and PIMT were assessed using the HUMAC NORM Cybex ergometer which has been demonstrated to be a reliable ergometer [ 29 , 30 ]. After 5 min of easy cycling ~1 kp on an ergometer Monark E; Vansbro, Sweden , participants subsequently performed a warm up set of 3 repetitions on the Cybex.

PIMT was determined by using the best of 3 maximal isometric contractions of the knee extensors with the knee flexed at an angle of 90°. For isokinetic measurements, after a warm up set of 5 repetitions, subjects performed 1 set of 5 repetitions of isokinetic contractions of the knee extensors, through an individually determined range of motion ~90° at an angular velocity of 40° s The highest value obtained during the 5 repetitions was recorded and ranged from to ft.

of peak torque. The total warm up lasted approximately 7—10 min. As eccentric contractions may alter sarcomere length, and the optimal length for tension development [ 1 ], optimal joint angle, a surrogate for length, was recorded, amongst other variables obtained from the dynamometer.

Body position, approximate axis of rotation of the knee joint and dynamometer lever arm length were recorded and thus consistent for all trials for each volunteer.

Verbal encouragement was provided during all contractions to ensure maximal effort and was consistent between sessions and participants. The minimum eccentric torque needed to lower the arm and initiate the dynamometer was ~5 ft lb.

Muscle soreness was evaluated using a visual analog scale VAS [ 31 ]. Subjects were seated with right leg in passive 90° of flexion at the beginning of the soreness evaluation and instructed to extend the knee of the right leg parallel to the floor to full extension. Subjects then placed a mark at the point on the VAS corresponding to their perception of the soreness of the right quadriceps muscle.

This was done both unweighted and weighted with a 5-kg mass suspended from the ankle. Muscle soreness was quantified by using the measured distance mm from the left end of the continuum to the mark made by the subject.

Additionally, a Gulick tape measure was used to quantify the circumference of the right thigh at the midpoint between the greater trochanter of the femur and the knee joint to assess for localized swelling.

This location was marked with a permanent marker as means of standardization and to maintain consistency during follow-up measurements. On the first day of testing, following baseline measures, subjects performed maximal eccentric contractions ECCs of the knee extensors of the right leg on a HUMAC NORM isokinetic dynamometer Boston, USA at an angular velocity of 40° s-1 through an 80° range of motion Fig.

To the initiate each ECC, subjects performed a brief concentric contraction against the dynamometer lever arm of approximately 5 ft lb. The knee extensors were relaxed at the end of each ECC, and during the recovery phase the relaxed leg was returned to the starting position by the dynamometer.

The dynamometer provides real-time feedback to monitor effort during the ECC. This protocol was chosen as it has been used previously, with success, to determine the impact of dietary interventions on muscle soreness and function [ 17 ]. Verbal encouragement was provided to ensure maximal effort in a consistent manner during all contractions for all participants.

A one way analysis of variance ANOVA was used to compare baseline parameters between the three supplement groups. To account for potential minor variations in baseline muscle function ie.

PIMT, PIKT , muscle function was normalized to initial and represented as the change from baseline. Alpha was set, a priori, at 0. All data was presented as mean ± standard error of the mean SE.

No significant differences were observed for age, height, weight, percent body fat, fat free mass, and initial thigh circumference between groups Table 1. There were no significant differences between the groups at the start of ECC testing.

There were no differences in vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, sodium, calcium, and iron intake between groups Table 2. When expressed as percent of baseline Fig. Data are mean ± SE. Peak isokinetic torque, also exhibited a significant drop in torque over time Fig.

All groups experienced a significant increase in unweighted and weighted muscle soreness following the ECC Fig. The Impact of Supplementation on Changes in Muscle Soreness and Swelling. Collectively, the current findings support protein supplementation to enhance recovery of muscle function and the addition of antioxidants to act synergistically to reduce perceived muscle soreness, in the hours immediately following ECC exercise.

Thus, the combination of protein and antioxidants may be an important consideration in developing and implementing strategies to aid in muscle recovery during the acute h time period following a bout of exhaustive eccentric exercise. For instance, the CrossFit games, wrestling tournaments, powerlifting competitions, tennis tournaments, etc.

Thus, developing supplementation strategies to improve recovery and reduce muscle soreness, might improve performance in such settings.

In terms of aiding recovery of muscle function from resistance exercise or eccentric exercise, supplementation with protein or amino acids post-exercise has been demonstrated to enhance recovery [ 17 , 19 , 20 , 22 ]. Regarding isometric muscle function, previous work by Buckley and colleagues [ 17 ] found that consumption of whey protein hydrolysate resulted in a quicker recovery in peak isometric torque following ECC, with complete recovery at 6 h post exercise.

However, unlike the Buckley et al. study [ 17 ], and others [ 18 ], which found supplementation with protein completely restored and even surpassed baseline peak isometric torque [ 17 ], we did not find resolution of force within the same observed timeframe Fig.

Although total work between groups was not reported in these earlier studies, even concentric muscle force contractions are suppressed following high intensity work [ 32 ]. In any case and even though our measurements did not extend to 48 h post ECC, the pattern of our reported muscle function data Figs.

As muscle function, broadly defined, is impaired following ECC, the magnitude and temporal pattern may depend upon contraction type; specifically, static versus dynamic, and concentric versus eccentric [ 5 , 6 ].

Thus, in agreement with previous studies [ 18 ], the present study suggests protein supplementation following ECC does, in fact, improve recovery of dynamic muscle function.

Furthermore, previous research has demonstrated that supplementation with antioxidants derived from fruit improves recovery of muscle function following fatiguing eccentric exercise [ 7 , 8 , 9 ], though not all agree [ 34 ].

In the current study, using an antioxidant derived from anthocyanin extract from mixed berries, we found no synergistic effect of supplementing with both protein and antioxidants, or the antioxidant offered no obvious additional benefit beyond that of protein alone Figs.

In agreement, previous studies have also found no effect of antioxidant supplementation using either vitamin C or fruit, berry and vegetable concentrate on muscle recovery [ 10 , 11 , 34 ]. In contrast, previous studies using either a berry or fruit derived antioxidant supplement demonstrate an interaction between groups with no clear direction of improved muscle function [ 9 ] or show enhanced recovery of muscle function with a pre-loading period prior to ECC [ 8 ].

Collectively, future work is needed to determine if optimal dosing strategy, types of antioxidants, may influence the impact of antioxidant supplementation on muscle function following fatiguing eccentric exercise.

Decline in muscle function, athletic performance, and intensification of muscle soreness are all correlated to the damaging effects of eccentric exercise on muscle. Studies investigating the effect of protein or amino acids on muscle soreness following ECC have yielded both positive [ 19 , 20 , 22 ] and null [ 17 , 18 , 23 , 28 ] effects.

While there was a significant time effect for increased thigh circumference indicative of swelling and localized inflammatory responses, no group or group by time effects were found.

The current finding supports prior work suggesting antioxidant supplementation may reduce muscle soreness following ECC [ 7 , 11 , 34 ], although the positive effect of antioxidants on muscle soreness is not unanimous [ 8 , 9 , 10 ].

Although the precise mechanism s for reduced muscle soreness is unknown, it may be related to either the high leucine or essential amino acid content within whey protein [ 35 ], antioxidants potential to reduce muscle soreness following ECC exercise [ 36 ], or may be related to the many bioactives present within various forms of whey protein.

In any case, this finding may prove beneficial in scenarios where subsequent bouts with inadequate recovery are necessitated e. tournament play, multiple sport events, military or occupational scenarios.

While the findings of this study demonstrate improved muscle function, and attenuated muscle soreness with combined protein and antioxidant supplementation, further evaluation of this recovery strategy is necessary.

Specifically, the type, dose, and dosing strategy pre-loading, frequency of dosing, etc. likely needs optimization. Additionally, while muscle function is paramount, analysis of blood markers of muscle damage and oxidative stress, could provide insight into the underlying mechanisms of protein and antioxidant supplementation in the recovery of muscle soreness and function following eccentric exercise.

On the contrary, previous studies which have measured blood markers of oxidative stress or muscle damage e. creatine kinase that were discordant with function [ 3 , 8 , 9 , 11 , 34 ], in that muscle function would be improved but not oxidative markers, or vice versa, calling into question the value of such measurements.

Collectively, a combined protein antioxidant supplement is likely beneficial in the recovery from eccentric exercise, and may be relevant for novice exercisers or in athletic or occupational scenarios where a repeated bout is required before full recovery is allowed.

Proske U, Morgan DL. Muscle damage from eccentric exercise: mechanism, mechanical signs, adaptation and clinical applications.

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