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31.07.2022

Two tablespoons of sesame seeds make soccer players fitter and faster

If soccer players ingest 40 grams of sesame seeds every day, their muscles break down less quickly, their oxygen intake increases and they become faster. Brazilian researchers discovered this when they gave soccer players two tablespoons of sesame paste every day.

Study
Brazilian researchers from the Federal University of Paraiba gave 10 soccer players 40 grams of white sesame seeds every day for 4 weeks, and 10 other soccer players a placebo. The Brazilians had ground the seeds and mixed them with honey. In this way they made a sesame paste, of which the players in the experimental group consumed 2 tablespoons every day.

The soccer players in the placebo group were given a paste with a comparable caloric composition.

Results
Supplementation with sesame paste reduced the concentration of the enzymes LDH and CK in the blood of the test subjects. This reduction suggests that sesame paste reduces muscle damage.

Sesame paste lowered the concentration of MDA. You can see this at the top left. MDA is a marker for free radical activity. The decrease in MDA concentration suggests that sesame paste has antioxidant effects.

The maximum speed at which the soccer players could run increased as a result of supplementation. This also applied to the maximum amount of oxygen that the players could absorb.

Mechanism
The researchers suspect that the most important bioactive substances in sesame are lignans such as sesamin and sesaminol. They refer to previously published studies in which sesame lignans enhance the antioxidant effect of vitamin E.

Conclusion
"Sesame consumption could be a nutritional strategy to improve the aerobic capacity of soccer players and to reduce important markers of oxidative stress and muscle damage", conclude the Brazilians.

Source:
Front Physiol. 2017 Mar 31;8:196.

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The science behind sesamol in fat loss supplements 02.11.2019

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