Abstract

INDUCTION OF ERGOGENIC ACTIVITY THROUGH THE USE OF SPIRULINA SUPPLEMENTATION IN ATHLETES AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PRACTITIONERS

Andrea Schulz Galvão, Luis Carlos Oliveira Gonçalves*, Jaqueline Santos Silva Lopes, Ana Cláudia Pereira Terças Trettel, Mirelly dos Santos Amorim Dantas and Anibal Monteiro de Magalhaes Neto

ABSTRACT

Spirulina (Spirulina platensis) is a photosynthetic cyanobacterium that has biological activity and is widely cultivated for the production of nutritional supplements. SP has important antioxidant potential, improving inflammatory signals during exercise and in a future ergogenic action. This last capacity is exploited in various sports. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of spirulina supplementation on physical exercise, on the optimization of results and on the potentiation of athletic performance. The literature review was performed using the PRISMA protocol (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyzes). The search for articles was performed in the MEDLINE, Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Science databases. Only clinical trials published in the last 11 years were entered, between the first half of 2010 and the first half of 2021. Data were processed in the EndNot program. In total, 8 studies met the proposed criteria. The sample number varied between 9 - 41 individuals, with a mean age between 21 and 43 years. In the present study, the supplementation program was evaluated with dosage, training level, number of subjects, sex, age, control and placebo sample size, inflammatory markers and non-inflammatory markers.The inflammatory markers analyzed were: CK, GSH, TBARS, TAC, PC, LDH, SOD, MDA, TGA, CT, HDL-C, HB, lactate and glucose. The non-inflammatory parameters were: physical and mental fatigue, leg strength and power ratio, vertical jump, speed, IRT-1 Yoyo Test, oxygen consumption, heart rate, fatigue increment test, respiratory exchange ratio and power. It is concluded that the results clearly demonstrate that SP supplementation has an inconclusive effect in the evaluated studies. Although these data are still incipient, SP is already being marketed as a nutritional supplement, with promises of ergogenic activity for physical exercise practitioners.

Keywords: microalgae, exercise, free radicals, nutrition, inflammation.