The Effects of Caffeine Supplements on Exercise-Induced Oxidative Damages

BACKGROUND: There is an interaction between oxidative equilibrium and anti-oxidants in oxidative stress. Therefore, oxidative stress has an effect on intercellular oxidation and causes atrophy and is an underlying factor in many diseases. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of running downhill and the short-term effect of caffeine supplementation on oxidative stress in non-athletic men. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty men, aged 25 - 28 years, from Tabriz, Iran were been selected and divided in two homogeneous groups of 10 men: the supplementation group and the placebo group. In the next stage, groups received caffeine supplementation (caffeine capsules at a dose of 5 mg/kg of body weight daily for 14 days) or placebo (5 mg/kg of dextrose during supplementation) and ran downhill (30 minutes of treadmill running with a slope of −10 degrees with 65% maximal oxygen consumption); blood sampling was also performed. RESULTS: Anti-oxidant capacity by the ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) techniques and serum malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured by the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) method, while the total number of thiol molecules (TTM) with Hu and DNA damage was evaluated using ELISA. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicated that running downhill caused significant changes in all measured parameters, but the short-term caffeine supplementation did not have a significant effect on the indices of oxidative stress or DNA damage measured.