Summary
Even though vitamin E may not improve physical achievements in sports competitions, as shown in several swimming experiments, it is important for the health of skeletal muscle: in its role as the major lipid-soluble chainbreaking antioxidant in lipid cell membranes, vitamin E protects muscle tissue in aerobic exercise, in which oxygen metabolism and, consequently, free radical production are greatly accelerated. Animal studies in several laboratories have shown that endurance exercise results in the same type of oxidative muscle damage as does vitamin E deficiency: there is an increase in the peroxidation products pentance and malondialdehyde and in enzymes leaked from muscles to plasma. Oxidative tissue damage in vitamin-Edeficient animals is exacerbated by endurance training and, conversely, it is reduced by high-dose vitamin E supplementation; also, preliminary studies in humans have demonstrated antioxidant protection by high-dose vitamin E supplementation. After endurance exercise leakage of enzymes into the plasma and output of pentane in the breath were significantly reduced. During a high-altitude expedition in the Himalayas, protection was shown to be significantly better in the supplemented group than in the placebo group, as determined by anaerobic threshold and pentane exhalation.
Zusammenfassung
Ältere Studien haben gezeigt, daß Vitamin E die sportliche Leistungsfähigkeit bei Schwimmern nicht zu steigern vermag. Trotzdem ist das Vitamin für die Skelettmuskulatur der Sportler wichtig: Als das bedeutendste lipidlösliche Antioxidans in Zellmembranen schützt Vitamin E das Muskelgewebe bei aeroben physischen Belastungen, bei denen der Energiestoffwechsel stark beschleunigt ist, vor übermäßiger Peroxidation von ungesättigten Fettsäuren in Zellmembranen. In verschiedenen Labors führte Ausdauertraining von Versuchstieren zu denselben oxidativen Muskelschädigungen wie Vitamin-E-Mangel: Die Peroxidationsprodukte Pentan und Malondialdehyd waren erhöht, und Muskelenzyme waren vermehrt ins Plasma gelangt. Bei Tieren mit Vitamin-E-Mangel werden die Muskelschäden durch Ausdauertraining verstärkt, während sie durch Vitamin-E-Supplementierung vermindert werden. Präliminäre Studien am Menschen weisen ebenfalls auf eine antioxidative Schutzwirkung von Vitamin E gegen Muskelschädigung hin. Das zeigt sich in reduzierter Bildung von Pentan und in vermindertem Übertritt von Muskelenzymen ins Plasma nach Ausdauertraining. Bei einer Expedition von Bergsteigern ins Himalajagebiet stellten die Autoren ebenfalls eine signifikante Schutzwirkung von Vitamin-E-Supplementierung fest. Diese äußerte sich in einer erhöhten anaeroben Schwelle und in reduzierter Pentankonzentration im Atem bei Belastung.
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Gerster, H. Function of vitamin E in physical exercise: a review. Z Ernährungswiss 30, 89–97 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01610064
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01610064