Controversies of antioxidant vitamins supplementation in exercise: ergogenic or ergolytic effects in humans?

Table 1 Results of the studies with endurance trained volunteers supplemented with vitamins A, C, and E

Study	Experimental design	Sample	Duration	Suplementation protocol			Result
				Vitamin A	Vitamin C	Vitamin E	Ergogenic	Ergolytic
Tauler et al. [6]	Randomized, double-blind	15 athletes	90 d*	30 mg	1000 mg	500 mg	↔	↔
Tauler et al. [6]	Randomized, double-blind	15 athletes	90 d*	(β-caroten)	1000 mg	500 mg	↔	↔
Gauche et al. [9]	Randomized, double-blind	22 athletes	21 d (pre-exercise) + 2 dias (post-exercise)	6 mg	200 mg	32 mg	↑	N/R
Gauche et al. [9]	Randomized, double-blind	22 athletes	21 d (pre-exercise) + 2 dias (post-exercise)	(β-caroten)	200 mg	32 mg	↑	N/R
Nielsen et al. [10]	Randomized, double-blind, cross-over	15 athletes	28 d	-	400 mg	180 mg	↔	↔
Patil et al. [11]	Randomized, double-blind	37 athletes	21 d	-	-	200 mg	↔	↔
Louis et al. [12]	Randomized, double-blind	16 athletes	21 d	17.1 mg	319.2 mg	48 mg	↑	N/R
				(β-caroten)

* Vitamin C supplementation occurred only in the last 15 days of the study; ↑ Improved exercise performance; ↔ No results on exercise performance; N/R – not reported.

ISSN: 1550-2783