Beyond Antioxidant Scavenging: Mediterranean Diet, Redox–Metabolic Integration, and Exercise Adaptation
Study Details
This narrative review examined how the Mediterranean diet, whole foods, polyphenols and antioxidant supplements may influence exercise adaptation through redox, metabolic, vascular and gut-microbiota pathways 🔍
Here are the key findings ⬇️
Key Findings
⚡ Exercise-generated reactive oxygen and nitrogen species are not simply harmful; transient increases are important signals for mitochondrial biogenesis, endogenous antioxidant defence and training adaptation
🍎 The Mediterranean diet provides polyphenols, unsaturated fats, fibre and micronutrients within a whole-food matrix, creating a very different biological exposure from isolated high-dose supplements
🧬 Polyphenols may influence Nrf2, NF-κB, AMPK, SIRT1 and PGC-1α signalling, but direct human evidence that the complete Mediterranean diet enhances these pathways in exercising muscle remains limited
🏃 Human evidence suggests possible benefits for selected endurance, VO₂max, vascular and metabolic outcomes, but does not show a consistent ergogenic effect
⏱️ One small crossover trial reported ~6% faster 5-km performance after 4 days of a Mediterranean diet versus a Western diet
📈 A 12-week trial in endurance athletes found a greater improvement in VO₂max, alongside higher plasma propionate and butyrate
🦠 Gut-derived metabolites such as SCFAs may contribute to training adaptation, but their causal role remains unproven
💪 Evidence for strength outcomes is mostly neutral, while direct evidence for faster recovery remains limited
⚠️ High-dose vitamin C and E supplementation may attenuate selected redox-sensitive molecular adaptations, although this does not mean antioxidant-rich foods have the same effect
🥗 Athletes should therefore prioritise a food-first approach, rather than attempting to reproduce Mediterranean dietary exposures with concentrated antioxidant supplements
Conclusion
For athletes, antioxidant-rich whole foods appear compatible with training adaptation and may support the wider recovery and metabolic environment, while chronic high-dose antioxidant supplementation should be used more cautiously because it may interfere with some exercise-responsive signalling pathways ✅
Reference
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6284/15/4/88
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