Anti-oxidants around training:Help or hinder? Do you take them at this time?

[Knight9]

I have read and spoken to many people who choose to use anti oxidants around their training, whether it is prior to or after. This is to clean up free radical toxins created durung training that can be damaging. Some take 500mg, 1g, 2g of vitamin C pre, 1g pre and post, 2g NAC pre or post, and or ALA post(but also functions as a glucose disposal agent).
Some people are of the belief that this can actually hinder some of the positive effects of training. What do you take and what is your opinion on this?

My first mentor used to swear by saunas post workoit to sweat out toxins produced during training, but I don't see how that correlates with free radical production and successful elimination.

 

[Jizzmo]

i think the jury is still out on this... some people say that anti oxidants reduce inflammation (which generally is a good thing), but its also been speculated that imflammation is an important pathway of muscle growth. this sounds reasonable to me so i take my vit C in the morning and before bed, as far away from my workouts as possible. same thing with baby aspirin.
weird thing is that vitamin C in very high dosages (multiple grams at once) is actually supposed to be pro-inflammatory. might be worth experimenting with megadoses around workouts to actually increase inflammation and damage to the muscle, which could lead to more muscle growth.

 

[Cerberus777]

If i was really anal...I would take them about an hour or so after post workout drink. That way you dont interfere with the inflammation signals like glut4 ans such. But than take em to clear outvany damaged cells and such.

 

[money138]

I take them away from training.

 

[sammy555]

The whole thing is probably splitting hairs to be honest. In just eat a load of veg with every meal including post workout and drink a load of green tea all day when ever I fancy it. Just take a multi vitamin upon waking really with 500mg vit c. Probably don't even need the bit ç though with all the veg

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[KillerStack]

Did you see this, Knight?

Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Jul;98(1):233-45. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.112.049163. Epub 2013 May 29.
Thiol-based antioxidant supplementation alters human skeletal muscle signaling and attenuates its inflammatory response and recovery after intense eccentric exercise.
Michailidis Y, Karagounis LG, Terzis G, Jamurtas AZ, Spengos K, Tsoukas D, Chatzinikolaou A, Mandalidis D, Stefanetti RJ, Papassotiriou I, Athanasopoulos S, Hawley JA, Russell AP, Fatouros IG.
Source

Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Komotini, Greece.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:

The major thiol-disulfide couple of reduced glutathione (GSH) and oxidized glutathione is a key regulator of major transcriptional pathways regulating aseptic inflammation and recovery of skeletal muscle after aseptic injury. Antioxidant supplementation may hamper exercise-induced cellular adaptations.
OBJECTIVE:

The objective was to examine how thiol-based antioxidant supplementation affects skeletal muscle's performance and redox-sensitive signaling during the inflammatory and repair phases associated with exercise-induced microtrauma.
DESIGN:

In a double-blind, crossover design, 10 men received placebo or N-acetylcysteine (NAC; 20 mg · kg(-1) · d(-1)) after muscle-damaging exercise (300 eccentric contractions). In each trial, muscle performance was measured at baseline, after exercise, 2 h after exercise, and daily for 8 consecutive days. Muscle biopsy samples from vastus lateralis and blood samples were collected before exercise and 2 h, 2 d, and 8 d after exercise.
RESULTS:

NAC attenuated the elevation of inflammatory markers of muscle damage (creatine kinase activity, C-reactive protein, proinflammatory cytokines), nuclear factor κB phosphorylation, and the decrease in strength during the first 2 d of recovery. NAC also blunted the increase in phosphorylation of protein kinase B, mammalian target of rapamycin, p70 ribosomal S6 kinase, ribosomal protein S6, and mitogen activated protein kinase p38 at 2 and 8 d after exercise. NAC also abolished the increase in myogenic determination factor and reduced tumor necrosis factor-α 8 d after exercise. Performance was completely recovered only in the placebo group.
CONCLUSION:

Although thiol-based antioxidant supplementation enhances GSH availability in skeletal muscle, it disrupts the skeletal muscle inflammatory response and repair capability, potentially because of a blunted activation of redox-sensitive signaling pathways. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01778309.

PMID:
23719546

 

[petersouth]

Give that it's not helpful after training...

How far away from training should one take it?

 

[Simpllyhuge]

I avoid them till morning or night for this reason.

 

[BigNJ]

Anything in extremes will have a negative effect.

Just take the recommended dosage as directed and you will be fine.

 

[Knight9]

Anything in extremes will have a negative effect.

Just take the recommended dosage as directed and you will be fine.

No one is talking about extremes. We are talking about timing here.

 

[BigNJ]

My wife is a nutritionist and certified, and she says, it's irrelevant when you take them, different studies show different results.

She said, use it daily any time of the day wont matter.

 

[Knight9]

How many studies has she done or looked into that deal with individuals who vigorously weight train while consuming anti oxidants around the workout?

Sounds to me you and her may be speaking very generally and not focusing on the question at hand.

 

[Simpllyhuge]

Super human radio had an episode on this. I also don't use beta alanine for a similar reason, according to that episode.

Ibuprofen is said to do something similar as far as inflammation is concerned. I think Kal posted a link but I know it's pretty much consensus around here already.