News and Presentations
Dr Ian Gillam challenges the current thinking on antioxidants and physical performance at the Sports Medicine Australia Conference in Perth in October
Dr Ian Gillam will be presenting an important paper at the 2018 Sports Medicine Australia Conference in Perth, Australia in October, which will challenge some of the current thinking on the effect of antioxidant supplementation on physical performance. This research was undertaken with Professors Dick Telford and Sandy Skinner at the Australian Institute of Sport, the University of Canberra and Melbourne University. The Sports Medicine Australia is a holistic multidisciplinary event, bringing together the brightest minds in sports medicine, sports science, physical activity, health promotion and injury prevention.
Dr Gillam’s presentation at this Conference is titled “Is there a critical tissue vitamin E level to maintain cell membrane integrity and assist recovery in elite endurance trained athletes?”, that for the first time will redefine the required blood and tissue levels of vitamin E in elite endurance athletes that prevents cell membrane damage and can result the loss of essential metabolic cell-bound enzymes. The loss of these metabolic enzymes can be one major factors leading to muscle fatigue, poor performance and recovery in athletes. Ian will also prevent data to show that supplementation with high doses of vitamin E and C can significantly reduce cell membrane damage that reduces the loss of these critical cellular enzymes. In addition, and contrary to previous research that has been based on data on untrained or active individuals, that claim that antioxidant supplementation may impair training adaptation, Ian’s research with elite endurance athletes with below optimum levels of antioxidants, will demonstrate that antioxidant supplementation, that increases blood levels of antioxidants to optimum levels does not impair training adaptation or endurance performance and can improve cellular function and recovery from intense exercise.
This research will add to recent work by the group of Paschalis, Nikolaidis and Margaritelis in Greece, that has shown that the level of antioxidants, which determine the redox status of the individual, determine the effect of training on physical performance. An assessment of the level of antioxidant status of an individual is critical to whether antioxidant supplementation will improve or have adverse effects on physical performance in athletes and individuals undertaking training to improve their performance.