Tetraselmis chuii (TetraSOD) is a marine microalgae that has been reported to improve antioxidant responses in human skeletal muscle cells treated with TetraSOD and to improve recovery from muscle damaging exercise in humans supplemented with TetraSOD. However, the effects of TetraSOD supplementation on endurance performance and physiology is less clear. This study assessed the effect of short-term TetraSOD supplementation on endurance performance and physiology in healthy adults.
It is well documented that the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS; unstable molecules that react easily with and damage other molecules in a cell) increases in-line with the intensity and duration of exercise . Although increased ROS production during exercise is initially managed by a variety of 'antioxidants', continued ROS production exceeds the capacity of this antioxidant defense system leading to the development of oxidative stress and impaired exercise performance. Therefore, interventions that can lessen exercise-induced oxidative stress have the potential to improve exercise performance. While dietary supplementation with antioxidant vitamins (e.g. vitamin C and E) has this potential, such interventions do not typically improve exercise performance. Therefore, further research is required to investigate the potential for novel nutritional supplements to lessen exercise-induced oxidative stress and to improve exercise performance. Tetraselmis chuii (TetraSOD) is a natural marine microalgae product. Recent preliminary evidence suggests that treating human skeletal muscle cells with TetraSOD can increase the production of antioxidant enzymes to limit oxidative stress development. In addition, TetraSOD supplementation has been reported to improve recovery from muscle damaging exercise. However, the effects of TetraSOD supplementation on endurance performance and physiology is less clear. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of short-term TetraSOD supplementation on endurance performance and physiology in healthy adults.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
No dietary supplementation prior to undergoing the placebo supplement
14 days of supplementation with 25 mg/day hemicellulose crystalline
No dietary supplementation prior to undergoing the tetraselmis chuii supplement
Loughborough University
Loughborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Time to exhaustion during a severe-intensity cycle ergometry test continued until exhaustion
Time to exhaustion during severe-intensity cycle ergometry measured in seconds
Time frame: One assessment prior to and 14 days following the placebo supplementation, and one assessment prior to and 14 days following Tetraselmis chuii supplementation
End-exercise pulmonary oxygen uptake during a severe-intensity cycle ergometry test continued until exhaustion measured using an online gas analyser
Pulmonary oxygen uptake at the end of a severe-intensity cycling bout completed until exhaustion to provide an estimate of VO2max measured in L/min using a breath-by-breath gas exchange analyzer and taken as the mean over the final 30 s of the test.
Time frame: One assessment prior to and 14 days following the placebo supplementation, and one assessment prior to and 14 days following Tetraselmis chuii supplementation
End-exercise blood lactate concentration during a severe-intensity cycle ergometry test continued until exhaustion
Blood lactate concentration at the end of a severe-intensity cycling bout continued until exhaustion measured in mmol/L using an autoanalyzer
Time frame: One assessment prior to and 14 days following the placebo supplementation, and one assessment prior to and 14 days following Tetraselmis chuii supplementation
End-exercise rating of perceived exertion using the Borg 6-20 scale during a severe-intensity cycle ergometry test continued until exhaustion
Assessment of rating of perceived exertion at the end of a severe-intensity cycling bout completed until exhaustion using the Borg 6-20 scale where 6 = no exercise and 20 = maximal exertion with measurement units of arbitrary units.
Time frame: One assessment prior to and 14 days following the placebo supplementation, and one assessment prior to and 14 days following Tetraselmis chuii supplementation
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DOUBLE
Enrollment
15
14 days of supplementation with 25 mg/day tetraselmis chuii