Abstract
Dietary supplements are widely used as a nutritional strategy to improve and maintain performance and achieve faster recovery in sports and exercise. Exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) is caused by mechanical stress and subsequent inflammatory responses including reactive oxygen species and cytokine production. Therefore, dietary supplements with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties have the potential to prevent and reduce muscle damage and symptoms characterized by loss of muscle strength and delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). However, only a few supplements are considered to be effective at present. This review focuses on the effects of dietary supplements derived from phytochemicals and listed in the International Olympic Committee consensus statement on muscle damage evaluated by blood myofiber damage markers, muscle soreness, performance, and inflammatory and oxidative stress markers. In this review, the effects of dietary supplements are also discussed in terms of study design (i.e., parallel and crossover studies), exercise model, and such subject characteristics as physical fitness level. Future perspectives and considerations for the use of dietary supplements to alleviate EIMD and DOMS are also discussed.
Highlights
Unaccustomed, strenuous high-intensity, or long-duration exercise can induce muscle damage, so-called exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD)
This review summarizes the supplementation strategies used to prevent and attenuate EIMD and delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in humans, with a focus on dietary supplements that are introduced in Nutrients 2022, 14, 70 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statement and that have anti-inflammatory and/or antioxidant effects: (1) curcumin; (2) tart cherry juice; (3) beetroot juice, and (4) quercetin
These findings suggest that the effect of beetroot juice on blood muscle damage indices is highly dependent on the study design, and crossover design studies suggest that beetroot juice may reduce muscle damage caused by endurance exercise
Summary
Unaccustomed, strenuous high-intensity, or long-duration exercise can induce muscle damage, so-called exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD). Based on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statement on dietary supplements and high-performance athletes, several dietary supplements, including creatine monohydrate, beta-hydroxybetamethylbutyrate (HMB), omega 3-fatty acids, vitamin D, gelatin, vitamin C/collagen, and anti-inflammatory supplements, such as curcumin and tart cherry juice, may be effective in improving training capacity, recovery, muscle soreness, and injury management [6,7]. Among these supplements, anti-inflammatory supplements may attenuate DOMS [8,9]. Future perspectives and considerations for the use of dietary supplements to alleviate EIMD and DOMS are discussed
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