Antioxidant supplements for reducing muscle damage in athletes 💥

A useful recovery strategy?

Effects of different antioxidants on exercise-induced oxidative stress and muscle damage in athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Study Details

This new meta-analysis compiled data from 26 studies (505 athletes) to establish the effects of antioxidants supplements on post-exercise…

💥 Muscle damage

🧬 Oxidative stress

Here is what they found ⬇️

Key Findings

Antioxidant supplementation significantly decreased post-exercise…

👉 Lactate (LA)

👉 Creatine kinase (CK)

Different types of antioxidants (vitamins, plant extracts/polyphenols, and others) appeared equally effective at reducing LA and CK 💊🍒🫐

However, overall effects for other markers of oxidative stress including; TAS, TBARS, SOD, GPx, NOx, IL-6, and MDA exhibited no statistical significance ❌

There was significant heterogeneity between studies, which could have contributed to null findings 🧐

Conclusion

Antioxidants may be useful in controlling some aspects of muscle damage and oxidative stress after exercise 🩸

They may not directly ‘eliminate’ oxidative stress but rather ‘offset’ its negative effects by enhancing the body’s defence system ⚖️

Which may play a role in a wider exercise recovery strategy ✅

Reference

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41219818/

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