Effects of Pomegranate Juice Supplementation on Oxidative Stress Biomarkers Following Weightlifting Exercise

Nutrients. 2017 Jul 29;9(8). pii: E819. doi: 10.3390/nu9080819. Ammar A1,2, Turki M3, Hammouda O4,5, Chtourou H6, Trabelsi K7, Bouaziz M8, Abdelkarim O9, Hoekelmann A10, Ayadi F11, Souissi N12, Bailey SJ13, Driss T14, Yaich S15. Author information 1 Research Unit: Education, Motricity, Sport and health, UR15JS01, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia. ammar.achraf@ymail.com. 2 Institute of Sport Science, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg 39106, Germany. ammar.achraf@ymail.com. 3 Laboratory of Biochemistry, CHU Habib Bourguiba, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia. mouna.turki@gmail.com. 4 Research Unit: Education, Motricity, Sport and health, UR15JS01, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia. hammouda.o@parisnanterre.fr. 5 Research Center on Sport and Movement (Centre de Recherches sur le Sport et le Mouvement, CeRSM), UPL, Univ Paris Nanterre, UFR STAPS, Nanterre F-92000, France. hammouda.o@parisnanterre.fr. 6 Research Unit: Education, Motricity, Sport and health, UR15JS01, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia. h_chtourou@yahoo.fr. 7 Research Unit: Education, Motricity, Sport and health, UR15JS01, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia. trabelsikhaled@gmail.com. 8 High Institute of Biotechnology, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia. mohamed.bouaziz@cbs.rnrt.tn. 9 Institute of Sport Science, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg 39106, Germany. osamahalim@ymail.com. 10 Institute of Sport Science, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg 39106, Germany. anita.hoekelmann@ovgu.de. 11 Laboratory of Biochemistry, CHU Habib Bourguiba, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia. ayadi_fatma@medecinesfax.org. 12 National Observatory of Sport, Tunis 1003, Tunisia. n_souissi@yahoo.fr. 13 School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3AJ, UK. S.Bailey2@lboro.ac.uk. 14 Research Center on Sport and Movement (Centre de Recherches sur le Sport et le Mouvement, CeRSM), UPL, Univ Paris Nanterre, UFR STAPS, Nanterre F-92000, France. tarak.driss@parisnanterre.fr. 15 Department of Community Medicine and Epidemiology, Hédi Chaker Hospital, Sfax University, Sfax 3000, Tunisia. kammoun.sourour@laposte.net. Abstract The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that pomegranate juice supplementation would blunt acute and delayed oxidative stress responses after a weightlifting training session. Nine elite weightlifters (21.0 ± 1 years) performed two Olympic-Weightlifting sessions after ingesting either the placebo or pomegranate juice supplements. Venous blood samples were collected at rest and 3 min and 48 h after each session. Compared to the placebo condition, pomegranate juice supplementation attenuated the increase in malondialdehyde (-12.5%; p < 0.01) and enhanced the enzymatic (+8.6% for catalase and +6.8% for glutathione peroxidase; p < 0.05) and non-enzymatic (+12.6% for uric acid and +5.7% for total bilirubin; p < 0.01) antioxidant responses shortly (3 min) after completion of the training session. Additionally, during the 48 h recovery period, pomegranate juice supplementation accelerated (p < 0.05) the recovery kinetics of the malondialdehyde (5.6%) and the enzymatic antioxidant defenses compared to the placebo condition (9 to 10%). In conclusion, supplementation with pomegranate juice has the potential to attenuate oxidative stress by enhancing antioxidant responses assessed acutely and up to 48 h following an intensive weightlifting training session. Therefore, elite weightlifters might benefit from blunted oxidative stress responses following intensive weightlifting sessions, which could have implications for recovery between training sessions. KEYWORDS: antioxidant; lipid peroxidation; polyphenol; power training