Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
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26.03.2010 |
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Vitamin E protects testes while taking steroids
The researchers injected male rabbits every other day with 10 mg testosterone propionate. The gave another group of rabbits not just testosterone propionate but also a 100 mg injection of vitamin E per kg bodyweight, also every other day. That amount of vitamin E is on the high side. Other groups of experimental animals were either given nothing [Control] or just vitamin E.
The experiment lasted 6 weeks. Afterwards the researchers looked at what had happened to the animals' testes.
GSH = reduced glutathione; MDA = malondialdehyde; GSH-PX = GSH peroxidase.
The activity of the antioxidant endogenous enzyme GSH-peroxidase declined as a result of the testosterone injections, but vitamin E supplementation compensated for this to some extent.
The concentration of malondialdehyde increased as a result of the male sex hormone injections. Malondialdehyde is produced when free radicals attack fatty acids in the cell membranes. Apparently vitamin E prevents this to some extent.
The vitamin C concentration declined as a result of the vitamin E supplementation. That's probably because vitamin E uses vitamin C to regenerate itself. [Hmmm. Might that mean that giving vitamin C and E works better than administering only vitamin E?]
"Vitamin E may be administered in order to protect the testis tissue from oxidative damage enhanced by testosterone", the researchers write in the conclusion of their article.
If vitamin E and other antioxidants really do protect the testes against steroids courses, then moderate users might benefit. Whether the same goes for chronic high-dose users, we're not so sure. If people with a congenital heart problem take 400 IE vitamin E daily, then their chance of heart failure due to an enlarged left ventricle increases. [JAMA. 2005 Mar 16;293(11):1338-47.] And an enlarged left ventricle is also a side effect of chronic use of high doses of steroids.
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