Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26638792›Full record

ReviewThe Journal of physiology2016

Do antioxidant supplements interfere with skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise training?

Troy L Merry, Michael Ristow

Registry-linked trialOpen access · bronzeAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in The Journal of physiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07190989 (Inter-individual Variability of Sleep Outcome Measures in Response to Nutritional Blend Supplementation), which is not on this map. Cited by 161 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
161citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
14.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT07190989 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2025, after this paper: background citation

Inter-individual Variability of Sleep Outcome Measures in Response to Nutritional Blend Supplementation: a Replicate Crossover Trial

TypeinterventionalSponsorAspire AcademyRan2025 to 2025Enrolled15ConditionsHealthyArmsNutritional Supplement, Maltodextrin (Placebo)
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

161 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 304 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Trial
  9. Trial
  10. Trial
  11. Trial
  12. Trial
  13. Trial
  14. Trial
  15. Trial
  16. Trial
  17. Trial
  18. Trial
  19. Post-exercise blood flow restriction attenuates muscle hypertrophy.European journal of applied physiology · 2016
    Trial
  20. Review

101 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Troy L MerryEnergy Metabolism Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), 8603, Zurich, Switzerland. troy.merry@gmail.com.
Michael RistowEnergy Metabolism Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), 8603, Zurich, Switzerland.
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne · CHETH Zurich · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A popular belief is that reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) produced during exercise by the mitochondria and other subcellular compartments ubiquitously cause skeletal muscle damage, fatigue and impair recovery. However, the importance of ROS and RNS as signals in the cellular adaptation process to stress is now evident. In an effort to combat the perceived deleterious effects of ROS and RNS it has become common practice for active individuals to ingest supplements with antioxidant properties, but interfering with ROS/RNS signalling in skeletal muscle during acute exercise may blunt favourable adaptation. There is building evidence that antioxidant supplementation can attenuate endurance training-induced and ROS/RNS-mediated enhancements in antioxidant capacity, mitochondrial biogenesis, cellular defence mechanisms and insulin sensitivity. However, this is not a universal finding, potentially indicating that there is redundancy in the mechanisms controlling skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise, meaning that in some circumstances the negative impact of antioxidants on acute exercise response can be overcome by training. Antioxidant supplementation has been more consistently reported to have deleterious effects on the response to overload stress and high-intensity training, suggesting that remodelling of skeletal muscle following resistance and high-intensity exercise is more dependent on ROS/RNS signalling. Importantly there is no convincing evidence to suggest that antioxidant supplementation enhances exercise-training adaptions. Overall, ROS/RNS are likely to exhibit a non-linear (hormetic) pattern on exercise adaptations, where physiological doses are beneficial and high exposure (which would seldom be achieved during normal exercise training) may be detrimental.

Indexed as

Dietary SupplementsAdaptation, PhysiologicalAnimalsAntioxidantsExerciseHumansHypertrophyMitochondria, MuscleMuscle, SkeletalMuscular DiseasesReactive Oxygen SpeciesAntioxidantsReactive Oxygen Species

Identifiers

PMID26638792
PMCPMC5023714
OpenAlexW2190841046

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.