Effects of Acai berry supplementation on exercise adaptation of mice

Abstract

BackgroundDietary antioxidant supplementation is now a matter of debate in sports science. Traditionally, vitamin supplementation has been widely used by athletes, for the purpose of recovering from fatigue or enhancing performance. However, recent research shows conflicting data about the effectiveness of antioxidant supplementation, and some research even indicates antioxidant supplementation inhibits adaptation response to endurance training. The antioxidant used in these studies, however, is only limited to antioxidant vitamins or single type of antioxidant. Since a body of data indicate antioxidants work synergistically, we used whole food Acai berry as antioxidant supplementation.【Method】We divided 32 male ICR mice (7wk old) into four groups, Acai‐fed group (Ac), trained group (Tr), Acai‐fed and trained group (AcTr), and control group (Cn, n = 8 for each group). Ac group and AcTr group were fed normal chow (MF, Oriental Kobo) mixed with freeze‐dried Acai powder (10% in weight, Amazonia) for 6 weeks. Tr group and AcTr group were trained on a treadmill for 60 min/day, 5 days/wk (20 m/min). After 6 weeks of the intervention, mice were sacrificed and citrate synthase activities of the skeletal muscle were measured.【Result and Discussion】There are no differences in exercise performance between Tr and AcTr groups. The citrate synthase activities are higher among trained group (compared with non‐trained groups, p < 0.01), but not in Acai‐fed group (compared with normal chow groups). Therefore, our current data don't support the idea that whole food antioxidant‐rich Acai berry supplementation is beneficial for athletes.