Salivary antioxidants of male athletes after aerobic exercise and garlic supplementation on: A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study.

PURPOSE Production of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species is a natural biological event in metabolism. However, the presence of antioxidants can highly reduce the negative effect of free radicals. Thus, the efficiency of antioxidant system in the physiology of exercise is very important. DESIGN Considering the known antioxidant capacity of garlic, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect on combining 14 days aerobic exercise till exhaustion with garlic extract supplementation on the antioxidant capacity of saliva. METHODS Sixteen young men volunteered to participate in this randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study and were randomly placed into two groups, placebo (Group I) and garlic extract (Group II). The participants performed exhaustive aerobic exercise on a treadmill before and after supplementation. Their unstimulated salivary samples were collected before, immediately after, and 1 h after the activity. The antioxidant activity in terms of peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) was then measured in the collected samples using their specific substrates. RESULTS A significant increase in salivary antioxidant activity of SOD, POD, and CAT was observed in saliva of the supplement group compared to the placebo group (P ≤ 0.05). CONCLUSION The findings from this study suggest that increased activity of antioxidant enzymes could possibly decrease exercise-induced oxidative damage in male athletes.