Can Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage Be a Good Model for the Investigation of the Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Diet in Humans?

Abstract

Subclinical, low-grade, inflammation is one of the main pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the majority of chronic and non-communicable diseases. Several methodological approaches have been applied for the assessment of the anti-inflammatory properties of nutrition, however, their impact in human body remains uncertain, because of the fact that the majority of the studies reporting anti-inflammatory effect of dietary patterns, have been performed under laboratory settings and/or in animal models. Thus, the extrapolation of these results to humans is risky. It is therefore obvious that the development of an inflammatory model in humans, by which we could induce inflammatory responses to humans in a regulated, specific, and non-harmful way, could greatly facilitate the estimation of the anti-inflammatory properties of diet in a more physiological way and mechanistically relevant way. We believe that exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) could serve as such a model, either in studies investigating the homeostatic responses of individuals under inflammatory stimuli or for the estimation of the anti-inflammatory or pro-inflammatory potential of dietary patterns, foods, supplements, nutrients, or phytochemicals. Thus, in this review we discuss the possibility of exercise-induced muscle damage being an inflammation model suitable for the assessment of the anti-inflammatory properties of diet in humans.

The importance of aerobic capacity and nutrition in recreational master mountain runners’ performance and race-induced changes in body composition and biochemical blood indices

“…Intense resistance training is known to increase muscle mass, strength/power, muscle protein synthesis, fibre cross-sectional area, 44,[57][58][59][60] running pace, and economy and to induce specific training adaptations to the mechanisms controlling the extent and time course of exercise-induced muscle damage. 61,62 These findings, combined with this study's results, suggest that due to their greater metabolic and neuromuscular adaptations, faster master mountain runners exhibit almost the same energy expenditure as slower runners. However, because they cover the distance in less time, they have fewer gait cycles.…”

The emerging role of skeletal muscle as a modulator of lipid profile the role of exercise and nutrition

“…Our group has recently shown that individuals experiencing the highest reductions in Type IIx %CSA and concomitant increases in Type IIa %CSAs are those with the greatest improvements in their lipid profile after 10 weeks of resistance training [12]. Indeed, as muscle is a highly plastic tissue [45,[56][57][58][59][60], its properties can be changed according to nutrition but mostly to training-induced metabolic, physiological and mechanical stress. Increased training volumes upregulate molecular pathways controlling the size, type and metabolic procedures of muscle fibers, which ultimately results in the transmission of Type IIx to the more metabolically efficient Type IIa muscle fibers [4,5,7,12,45,56], changes that are highly related to those of lipidemic profiles [12].…”

Body Composition, Fasting Blood Glucose and Lipidemic Indices Are Not Primarily Determined by the Nutritional Intake of Middle-Aged Endurance Trained Men—Another “Athletes’ Paradox”?

“…Regarding bioenergetics, glucose and lipids metabolism is upregulated during endurance exercise [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Additionally, long-term, regular endurance training results in volume (total distance or training duration per week) dependent, beneficial and specific adaptations on glucose and lipids metabolism, leading to completely different metabolic procedures and functionalities of glucose and lipids metabolic pathways than those observed in sedentary individuals [ 28 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. For example, according to the “athletes’ paradox” phenomenon, even though endurance athletes possess increased intramuscular lipids concentrations, their insulin sensitivity is enhanced, a phenomenon attributed to the high daily metabolic demands during and after training bouts but primarily to the training-specific adaptions in oxidative capacities of their muscle fibers [ 15 ].…”