Published ahead of print on August 6, 2003, doi:10.1164/rccm.200303-373OC
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 168, Number 10, November 2003, 1181-1189
A more recent version of this article appeared on November 15, 2003
Submitted on March 17, 2003
Accepted on July 26, 2003
Fish Oil Supplementation Reduces Severity of Exercise-Induced Bronchoconstriction in Elite Athletes
Timothy D Mickleborough1*, Rachael L Murray2, Alina A Ionescu3, and Martin R Lindley2
1 Kinesiology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA,
2 Sport Science, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, United Kingdom,
3 Section of Respiratory Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Penarth, South Glamorgan, United Kingdom
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tmickleb{at}indiana.edu.
Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) in elite athletes may respond to dietary modification reducing the need for pharmacological treatment. Ten elite athletes with EIB and ten elite athletes without EIB (control) participated in a randomised double-blind crossover study. Subjects entered the study on their normal diet (NORMAL diet), and then received either fish oil capsules containing 3.2 g eicosapentaenoic acid and 2.2 g docohexaenoic acid (n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) diet; n=5) or placebo capsules containing olive oil (PLACEBO diet; n=5) taken daily for 3-wk. Diet had no effect on pre-exercise pulmonary function in either group and had no effect on post-exercise pulmonary function in control subjects. However, the n-3 PUFA diet improved post-exercise pulmonary function in EIB subjects compared to the NORMAL diet and PLACEBO diet. FEV1 decreased by 3± 2% on n-3 PUFA diet, 14.5±5% on PLACEBO diet and 17.3±6% on NORMAL diet at 15 min post-exercise. LTE4, 9 , 11 -PGF2, LTB4, TNF- and IL-1 all significantly decreased on the n-3 PUFA diet compared to NORMAL and PLACEBO diet and following the exercise challenge. These data suggest that dietary fish oil supplementation has a markedly protective effect in suppressing EIB in elite athletes and this may be attributed to their anti-inflammatory properties.
Key words: exercise, asthma, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, diet, eicosanoids, cytokines
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