Scientists from the University of Granada warn that protein-rich diets and androgenic anabolic steroids cause oxidative stress due to lipid and protein oxidation
The study also shows that high-intensity exercise counters these health-damaging effects
Research in rats conducted by scientists at the University of Granada has shown that the consumption of high-protein diets and androgenic anabolic steroids can cause brain oxidative damage due to the oxidation of lipids and proteins.
The results of this study suggest that this oxidative stress can lead to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.However, they also reveal that high-intensity exercise reduces the harmful effects of protein-rich diets and anabolic steroids at brain level.
This research has been conducted by Daniel Camiletti-Moirón, Virginia Aparicio, Elena Nebot, Gerardo Medina, Rosario Martínez, Garyfallia Kapravelou, Ana Andrade, Jesús María Porres, María López Jurado and Pilar Aranda. They are all members of the “Digestive physiology and nutrition” research group (AGR-145) of the University of Granada.
The experiment involved the use of 80 Wistar rats, divided into two group of 40 animals each. One acted as a control group, with a normo-protein diet adjusted to 10% of soya bean vegetable protein (n=40), whereas the other group had a high-protein diet adjusted to 45% (n=40). Each group was subdivided into animals that performed high-intensity exercise (n=20) and others that did not (n=20). And these groups were further subdivided into 10 rats that were administered Stanozolol (an anabolic steroid) and the remaining 10 that received a vehicle/placebo.
Brain level damage
The results showed that those rats that consumed a high-protein diet and received anabolic steroids presented brain damage that was reduced when exercise was introduced, cutting the oxidative damage caused by the previously-mentioned interventions.
Hence, in the rats involved in high-intensity exercise based on hypertrophy training, the negative effect of consuming a high-protein diet and of the administration of anabolic steroids was reduced at brain level.However, the authors insist this training protocol needs to be used cautiously with respect to the antioxidant defence system.
Daniel Camiletti-Moirón, lead author of the study, stresses this is only an experimental study in rats and it would be difficult to reproduce these results in humans. “What our research does demonstrate is that high-protein diets and the administration of large doses of anabolic steroids like those many athletes consume to build muscle mass are damaging to their health”, says Camiletti.
Similarly, Dr Camiletti-Moirón indicates that the consumption of anabolic steroids for body-building by many athletes, or simply by people who want to gain muscle mass or improve their appearance, “is equal to 10 times more than the quantity prescribed therapeutically for disorders like hypogonadism (a condition in which the sex glands produce little or no hormone) or sarcopenia (loss of skeletal muscle mass associated with ageing), which undoubtedly has highly damaging effects on the organism”.
Reference
High-intensity Exercise modifies the effects of Stanozolol on Brain Oxidative Stress in Rats
D. Camiletti-Moirón, V. A. Aparicio, E. Nebot, G. Medina, R. Martínez, G. Kapravelou, A. Andrade, J. M. Porres, M. López-Jurado, P. Aranda
Int J Sports Med 2015; 36:1–8.
Does exercise reduce brain oxidative stress? A systematic review.
Camiletti-Moirón D,Aparicio VA, Aranda P, Radak Z.
Scand J Med SciSpor. 2013; 23(4):e202-e212.
High-protein diet induces oxidative stress in rat brain: protective action of high-intensity exercise against lipid peroxidation
Daniel Camiletti-Moirón, Virginia Arianna Aparicio, Elena Nebot, Gerardo Medina, Rosario Martínez, Garyfallia Kapravelou, Ana Andrade, Jesús María Porres, María López-Jurado and Pilar Aranda
Nutr Hosp. 2015;31(2):866-874
ISSN 0212-1611 • CODEN NUHOEQ.S.V.R. 318
Image: Daniel Camiletti, researcher at the University of Granada and lead author of this study.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Contact details:
Daniel Camiletti-Moirón
Department of Medical Physiology University of Granada Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de los Alimentos “José Matáix” (INYTA) Instituto Mixto Universitario Deporte y Salud (iMUDS)
Phone: +34 958 240 679
E-mail address: dcamiletti@ugr.es
