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Nutrition, exercise, and immune system function.

¹Department of Health, Leisure, and Exercise Science, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, USA. niemandc@appstate.edu

Clinics in Sports Medicine

|July 20, 1999

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Carbohydrate supplementation can reduce the negative impact of intense exercise on the immune system. This helps endurance athletes by mitigating immune suppression during the "open window" period, potentially lowering infection risk.

Area of Science:

Exercise Immunology
Sports Nutrition
Endocrinology

Background:

Prolonged, intense exercise can impair immune function, creating an

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the effects of nutritional supplements on the acute immune response to prolonged exercise in endurance athletes.
To evaluate the efficacy of carbohydrate supplementation compared to other supplements like vitamin C and glutamine.

Main Methods:

Measurement of immune system components and endocrine responses in endurance athletes.
Analysis of blood immune cell counts, phagocytosis, oxidative burst activity, and cytokine profiles.
Assessment of plasma glucose, cortisol, and growth hormone levels.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

Carbohydrate beverage ingestion attenuated cortisol and growth hormone response.

Fewer perturbations in blood immune cell counts were observed with carbohydrate intake.

Decreased granulocyte and monocyte phagocytosis, oxidative burst activity, and diminished pro-inflammatory/anti-inflammatory cytokine response were linked to carbohydrate supplementation.

Conclusions:

Carbohydrate supplementation appears to reduce the physiological stress on the immune system following prolonged, intense exertion in endurance athletes.
The findings suggest that carbohydrate beverages may help mitigate the immune suppression during the post-exercise "open window" period.
Further research is needed to determine the clinical significance of these carbohydrate-induced effects.