Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
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11.11.2013 |
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Green tea speeds up muscle recovery after heavy training
Green tea supplements don't just protect muscles during heavy physical exertion. The catechins in tea also speed up recovery after exercise. An animal study published by researchers at the Japanese Kao Corporation in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise provides evidence.
Study
A group of mice ate the feed enriched with tea extract for three weeks. A control group ate normal feed. At the end of the period the researchers got the mice to run downhill on a treadmill, an easy way to develop considerable muscle damage.
One day later, before the mice's muscles had had a chance to recover, the researchers made the animals run on a treadmill again.
Results
The researchers measured the concentration of several indicators of muscle damage and inflammation in the muscle tissue of the mice. Supplementation with green tea catechins resulted in noticeably lower concentrations of malondialdehyde, TNF-alpha, interleukin 1-beta and MCP-1 24 hours after the downhill session than those found in the mice that had been given standard feed.
The same was true for the concentration of muscle damage indicators in the blood, for example of creatine kinase [CK] and LDH. These were also lower in the mice that had been given green tea extract.
Click on the table below for a larger version.
Conclusion
"These findings have important implications and will help to establish human nutritional strategies that hasten recovery of postexercise physical performance."
Doses
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