Antioxidant Supplements

What happens when taking antioxidant supplements? We take the example of an athlete. If an athlete has a shortage of antioxidants in hard training supplementation gives very good results. We know that primarily endurance can deteriorate in the absence and this should be countered by a good supplement. The evidence suggests that exercise in itself, with the high pressure it puts on the body, can cause a temporary shortage of antioxidants. According to that theory, antioxidants would be very good for all who are training and burden their bodies with hard physical activity. The different antioxidants are operating at different locations in the cell, and they help each other in several ways. It would therefore be best to take in many different antioxidants at the same time.

Antioxidants And The Immune System

A hard training sportsman or sportswoman quite easy get various infections and colds and many people use as you know, vitamin C to prevent this. Much could be won by reducing the risk and at least those who do a lot of endurance training seem to get an extra protection from a proper supplement of vitamin C, at least 600mg per day.

Antioxidants Effect On Muscles

When you exercise your muscles intensely, in the eccentric phase, you get small injuries in the muscle tissue. When they eventually repair the body over-compensates for the damage and, the muscle has grown. The damage occurs because of a mechanical wear, but also because of the formation of free radicals that attack muscle proteins during exercise. There are studies showing that antioxidant supplements and particularly vitamin C reduces the muscle damage. The question is how this affects muscle growth. One might think that vitamin C reduces the muscle building potential, because the damage is minor, but what impact does this have in real life? There is no scientific evidence that can give a certain answer, but my guess is that the mechanical wear is a sufficient stimulus for muscle building, and the vitamin C therefore would not reduce muscle growth. Moreover, the recovery is faster, allowing you to train harder and therefore get better results. There is also evidence suggesting that vitamin C could reduce the increase of cortisol, which normally occurs after a short workout. Because cortisol is a catabolic hormone, this could provide a very good effect if you want muscle recovery and strength. Vitamin C is one of the strongest water-soluble antioxidant supplements, which means that it can not be replaced by the fat-soluble antioxidants such as vitamin E. In addition, it does not seem as if the other antioxidants have this protective effect on the muscles.