Muscle: Nutrients Reduce Muscle Damage, Promote Growth

Carotenoids improve recovery

Recovering quickly from strenuous exercise helps people optimize an active lifestyle. In this study, 20 male and female runners, ages 22 to 54, took a placebo or an 11 mg combination of the tomato-based carotenoids lycopene, phytoene, and phytofluene, with dinner for four weeks before taking a two-hour, high intensity running test designed to damage muscles.

After the test, carotenoid levels were 73 percent higher for those taking carotenoids. While both the placebo and carotenoid groups saw similar levels of inflammation, oxidative stress, and muscle soreness, signs of muscle injury were lower for carotenoids. To determine this, doctors measured myoglobin, a protein that signals muscle injury, and found lower myoglobin levels in the carotenoid group.

Doctors said the modest dose and short duration of the study suggest that carotenoids and tomato phytonutrients can help optimize muscle recovery after exercise.

Krill oil stimulates growth

Resistance exercise helps build lean muscle mass. In this study, 21 healthy resistance-trained men, aged 18 to 30, took a placebo or 3 grams of krill oil containing 240 mg DHA and 393 mg EPA, plus a small amount of astaxanthin, per day.

During the eight-week study period, participants alternated high-weight, low-repetition strength exercises with low-weight, high-repetition endurance exercises. Doctors took a comprehensive metabolic panel, a complete blood count, and a urine analysis to determine that krill oil stimulated an enzyme protein (mammalian target of rapamycin, or mTOR) that promotes cellular energy transfer and that contributed to the average gain of three pounds of lean muscle mass in the krill oil group.

Reference: Humankinetics; 2018, Vol. 28, No. 3, 266-73