Antioxidants: great allies in sport

People are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of physical exercise for their health.

Doing regular sport helps to prevent and treat different types of illnesses and diseases: osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, anxiety and depression, cholesterol, obesity, etc.

However, high-intensity exercise can also have some negative effects on your health. When you do high-intensity exercise, which requires you to overexert yourself, your body’s tissues are affected by the free radicals that are produced.

What are free radicals? How do they affect us?

Free radicals are reactive compounds, usually oxygenated, which cause oxidative damage to the cells in your body’s muscle tissues.

Free radicals are formed from the oxygen that enters your body, resulting in oxidation; as a general rule, about 95% of this oxygen is used by your cells to generate energy, while the rest produces free radicals.

However, in the case ofathletes, this increases, as they consume an additional 20% of oxygen during exercise compared to normal conditions. This increased oxygen consumption leads to an excess of free radicals in the body, increasing cell damage. This process is called oxidative stress and it poses a health risk.

Oxidative stress

There are several causes of oxidative stress, most notably:

• A decline in the body’s ability to burn all the oxygen it receives, as the increase in oxygen when exercising causes oxygen to escape from the usual pathways through which it is metabolised and it is converted into free radicals.
• Another cause, very common in high-intensity athletes, is the oxidation of lactate in the muscle, as muscle fibres release the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase. Add increased body temperature and the ability to burn oxygen decreases, so more of it is converted into free radicals.

And, it should be borne in mind that oxidative stress not only affects the muscles, but also the skin, as the body’s production of collagen and elastin is impaired, leading to a loss of firmness and elasticity, the appearance of wrinkles, etc., i.e. premature ageing.

The power of antioxidants in sport

To reduce oxidative stress and halt the damage caused by free radicals, it is essential to take antioxidants.

Antioxidants are necessary for everyone: athletes and non-athletes, young and old people…as they help to protect the body from free radicals. However, in sport, antioxidants are absolutely essential, especially for people who do high-intensity activities.

The main antioxidants are:

• Vitamins C and E
• Carotenoids
• Flavonoids
• Selenium and zinc
• Polyphenols, like punicalagins and hydroxytyrosol.

 Antioxidants can be found in foods: fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, green tea, eggs, seafood and whole grains, so eating a healthy, balanced diet goes a long way to meeting the body’s needs.

Following a varied and balanced diet provides the necessary amounts of antioxidants. However, when the activity is very intense it may be necessary to get some extra help from food supplements.

And to meet these needs and help improve your health, Probelte Pharma has developed Keriba, a range of therapeutic nutrition products, including all-natural antioxidant supplements. Keriba Sport is specially formulated for athletes, combining a high concentration of punicalagins (pomegranate polyphenols) with magnesium and vitamin B6.