Abstract
Probiotics have been rapidly developed for health promotion, but clinical validation of the effects on exercise physiology has been limited. In a previous study, Lactobacillus plantarum TWK10 (TWK10), isolated from Taiwanese pickled cabbage as a probiotic, was demonstrated to improve exercise performance in an animal model. Thus, in the current study, we attempted to further validate the physiological function and benefits through clinical trials for the purpose of translational research. The study was designed as a double-blind placebo-controlled experiment. A total of 54 healthy participants (27 men and 27 women) aged 20–30 years without professional athletic training were enrolled and randomly allocated to the placebo, low (3 × 1010 colony forming units (CFU)), and high dose (9 × 1010 CFU) TWK10 administration groups (n = 18 per group, with equal sexes). The functional and physiological assessments were conducted by exhaustive treadmill exercise measurements (85% VO2max), and related biochemical indices were measured before and after six weeks of administration. Fatigue-associated indices, including lactic acid, blood ammonia, blood glucose, and creatinine kinase, were continuously monitored during 30 min of exercise and a 90 min rest period using fixed intensity exercise challenges (60% VO2max) to understand the physiological adaptation. The systemic inflammation and body compositions were also acquired and analyzed during the experimental process. The results showed that TWK10 significantly elevated the exercise performance in a dose-dependent manner and improved the fatigue-associated features correlated with better physiological adaptation. The change in body composition shifted in the healthy direction for TWK10 administration groups, especially for the high TWK10 dose group, which showed that body fat significantly decreased and muscle mass significantly increased. Taken together, our results suggest that TWK10 has the potential to be an ergogenic aid to improve aerobic endurance performance via physiological adaptation effects.
Highlights
Fatigue syndromes can result from pathological and nonpathological impacts [1]
We examined the effects of TWK10 on fatigue-associated indices, exercise performance, and body composition
We enrolled a healthy population without regulatory training to investigate exercise performance, physiological adaptation, inflammation, body composition, and safety to further understand and validate the bio-efficacy of TWK10 for sport science application and health promotion
Summary
Fatigue syndromes can result from pathological and nonpathological impacts [1]. Pathological fatigue, such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), can be caused by cancer, infection, endocrinological imbalance, immune problems, and psychosomatic diseases, and CFS may not be an independent and unique disease [2]. Nonpathological/physiological fatigue can be further characterized as induced via central and peripheral mechanisms [3] and both mechanisms play important roles in the physiological effects during exercise processes, types, intensities, and duration [4]. Strategies including nutrition intervention as well as training programs [7] and physical therapies [8] have been developed to improve physiological fatigue, adaptation, and performance. Optimized physiological adaption could be beneficial for health promotion from the perspective of exercise and nutrition
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