Effects Of Fenugreek, Cinnamon, & Curcumin Supplementation On Post Workout Il6 And Cortisol Response

Abstract

Strenuous exercise can suppress cellular immunity leading to increased susceptibility to infections and delayed recovery. Cytokines and other mediators are released into circulation in an acute fashion to respond to the damage associated with the strenuous bout of exercise. PURPOSE: To assess the effectiveness of a prophylactic herbal blend on blunting inflammatory markers after muscle damage. METHODS: Twenty healthy non-resistance trained male and female subjects were equally divided by gender and body weight and assigned to ingested either a proprietary blend of fenugreek, cinnamon, & curcumin (N = 10, 21 ± 2.8 yrs, 174 ± 10 in, 77 ± 20 kg) or placebo (N = 10, 20 ± 1.9 yrs 175 ± 14in, 89 ± 20 kg). Subjects ingested 450 mg of either active (AS) supplement (400mg fenugreek, 25mg cinnamon, 25mg curcumin) or 450 mg of placebo (PL) for 14 days prior to the damage bout. Subjects were instructed to warm-up briefly and subsequently perform 24 sets of 10 eccentric knee extensor repetitions with one leg at 30°/s on a Biodex isokinetic machine. Subjects had their blood drawn at baseline, immediately post, 1hr, and 3hr post damage using standard procedures. Serum samples were analyzed for IL6 via ELISA and cortisol levels using EIA procedures. Data were analyzed by a two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Significant (p < 0.01) main effects for time were observed for the inflammatory marker IL6 and the catabolic hormone cortisol, although there were no significant (p > 0.05) interaction effects. Mean values for serum IL6 levels (pg/mL) were (PL: 2.47 ± 1.26 pre, 3.05 ± 1.48 post, 4.43 ± 2.64 1hr, 3.68 ± 1.51 3hr; AS: 1.99 ± 0.63 pre, 3.57 ± 3.11 post, 4.76 ± 5.9 1hr, 3.03 ± 1.71 3hr) indicating that the IL6 response was significantly elevated over time across both groups following damage (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the lower body damage protocol used induced significant (p < 0.05) inflammation over the observation period. The experimental proprietary blend had no effect on the IL6 response following 14 days of prophylactic supplementation (p < 0.05). It is concluded that fenugreek, cinnamon, and curcumin does not seem to alter the inflammatory properties associated with a bout of acute exercise damage. This study was supported by Indus Biotech.