Antioxidant supplementation boosts the advantages of CrossFit workouts on oxidative and muscle damage markers in obese males

Morteza Nemati; Neda Bozorgtabar; Maha Hoteit; Zahra Sadek; Abdullah Almaqhawi; Ali Rashidy-Pour; Nematollah Nemati; Mohammad Rashidi; Niloofar Karimi; Mitra Khadamosharieh; Reza Bagheri; Ayoub Saeidi; Maisa Hamed Al Kiyumi; Katie M Heinrich; Hassane Zouhal

doi:10.1186/s12986-024-00860-6

Antioxidant supplementation boosts the advantages of CrossFit workouts on oxidative and muscle damage markers in obese males

Nutr Metab (Lond). 2024 Nov 14;21(1):91. doi: 10.1186/s12986-024-00860-6.

Authors

Morteza Nemati¹, Neda Bozorgtabar², Maha Hoteit^{3

4}, Zahra Sadek^{4

5}, Abdullah Almaqhawi⁶, Ali Rashidy-Pour⁷, Nematollah Nemati⁸, Mohammad Rashidi⁹, Niloofar Karimi¹⁰, Mitra Khadamosharieh¹¹, Reza Bagheri¹², Ayoub Saeidi¹³, Maisa Hamed Al Kiyumi¹⁴, Katie M Heinrich¹⁵, Hassane Zouhal^{16

17}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomechanics and Sports Injuries, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.
² Department of Sport Physiology, Ayatollah Amoli Branch, Islamic Azad University, Amol, Iran.
³ Food Science Unit, National Council for Scientific Research, Lebanon (CNRS-L), Beirut, Lebanon.
⁴ Faculty of Public Health, Section I, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon.
⁵ Laboratory of Motor System, Handicap and Rehabilitation (MOHAR), Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese University, Beirut, 6573, Lebanon.
⁶ Department of Family Medicine and Community, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Research Center of Physiology, Department of Physiology, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
⁸ Damghan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Damghan, Iran.
⁹ Department of Exercise Physiology, Semnan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Semnan, Iran.
¹⁰ Department of Exercise Physiology, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran.
¹¹ Department of Sport Science, Faculty of Humanities, Kosar University of Bojnord, Bojnord, Iran.
¹² Department of Exercise Physiology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, 81746-73441, Iran.
¹³ Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Kurdistan, Iran. [email protected].
¹⁴ Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, Sultan Qaboos University and Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman.
¹⁵ Department of Kinesiology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
¹⁶ Univ Rennes, M2S (Laboratoire Mouvement, Sport, Santé), Rennes, EA 1274, F-35000, France.
¹⁷ Institut International des Sciences du Sport (2I2S), Irodouer, 35850, France.

Abstract

Supplementing with antioxidants may be one of the most efficient means of minimizing oxidative stress during workouts in obese individuals. The aim of this study is to identify the results after twelve weeks of CrossFit workouts combined with Spinach thylakoid extract on the levels of insulin resistance (insulin and Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance [HOMA-IR]), fasting blood sugar (FBS), malondialdehyde (MDA), creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in obese males. Sixty-eight males with an average age of 27 ± 8 yrs and a BMI of 32.6 ± 2.6 kg.m^{- 2} were randomly split into four groups each consisting of seventeen individuals. : control group (CG), supplement group (SG), training group (TG), and training + supplement group (TSG). After initial assessments, the two training groups (TG and TSG) started on a 12 weeks of the CrossFit workouts program involving three sessions per week each lasting up to 60 min. Participants in supplement groups ingested 30 min before lunch, 5 gof Spinach thylakoid extract per day or one sachet of raw corn starch in the control group. Baseline and post-intervention measurements were performed 48 h pre- and post-last session, respectively. The findings revealed noteworthy relationships between the exercise groups and timefor TAC, SOD, GPx, MDA, CK, and LDH (p < 0.001, ES: 0.88, 0.88, 0.8, 0.4, 0.7, and 0.7, respectively). In addition, there were statistically significant differences among study groups after attending the intervention program in TAC (ES: 0.88), SOD (ES: 0.92), GPX (ES: 0.85), MDA (ES: 0.5), CK (ES: 0.7) and LDH (ES: 0.8). The effect sizes of insulin (0.77), glucose (0.21), and HOMA-IR (0.44) varied significantly (p < 0.05) among the groups. The results demonstrated that CrossFit workouts for 12 weeks combined with Spinach thylakoid extract in men with obesity may prevent oxidative damage caused by obesity and CrossFit workouts.

Keywords: CrossFit workouts; Muscle damage; Obese male; Oxidative stress.