Drink Tomato Juice To Power-Up Your Workout!

We’ve already discussed how intense exercise can cause oxidative damage to the human body as it creates free-radical excess. We also know that eating greens can offset some of the damage caused by high intensity exercise, and help maximise the benefits of a tough workout.
That’s not all of it, as a newly published research suggests that also tomato juice can be helpful in reducing the damage from a strenuous workout.
In particular, researchers credit the lycopene, an antioxidant that soaks up tissue-damaging compounds, of which tomatoes are rich.
The result? You’ll feel so good that you’ll be ready to challenge yourself again the following the day!


The study

DNA is constantly exposed to reactive oxygen species (ROS), spontaneously arising during the normal oxygen metabolism. ROS may result in temporary as well as permanent modifications in various cellular components such as lipids, proteins and DNA, which may have deleterious consequences.
Demonstrating that a dietary supplementation of antioxidants can reduce oxidative DNA damage may provide evidence for the value of such supplementation in prevention of cancer and age related diseases.
The study was conducted to address whether tomato juice protects against ROS induced by extensive physical exercise in untrained individuals.
An intervention was performed involving 15 untrained healthy subjects who performed a 20 min physical exercise at 80% of maximum pulse using an ergometer bicycle. Blood samples were taken before and one hour after the exercise. The procedure was repeated after 5 weeks with a daily intake of 150 ml tomato juice and followed by a 5 weeks wash-out period and another 5 weeks with a daily intake of tomato juice. The results indicated that a daily intake of tomato juice, equal to 15 mg lycopene per day, for 5 weeks significantly reduced the oxidative stress after an extensive physical exercise.

Considerations

The data collected strongly suggests that tomato juice has a potential antioxidant effect, and may reduce the damage caused by free-radicals.
So yes, sipping tomato juice can have be an effective tool to maximise your workouts!

The Iron You
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by the Nutrition Journal