Effects of Ashwagandha (Withania Somnifera) Supplementation on Body Composition and Blood Health Indices in Professional Wrestlers

Długołęcka Barbara, Jówko Ewa (), Kotowska Jadwiga and Gierczuk Dariusz
Additional contact information
Długołęcka Barbara: Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Faculty of Physical Education and Health in Biała Podlaska
Jówko Ewa: Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Faculty of Physical Education and Health in Biała Podlaska
Kotowska Jadwiga: Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Faculty of Physical Education and Health in Biała Podlaska
Gierczuk Dariusz: Department of Combat Sports, Poland

Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism, 2023, vol. 30, issue 4, 26-32

Abstract: Introduction. The purpose of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to evaluate the effect of ashwagandha supplementation on the body composition, blood health and recovery indices, as well as the safety of ashwagandha supplementation in wrestling. Material and Methods. To investigate this, body composition (using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry; DEXA) and blood parameters as indicators of athletes’ health status (i.e., hematology, liver, kidney and muscle tissue function, lipid profile) were measured before and after 8-week supplementation with ashwagandha extract (600 mg/day) in professional national team wrestlers following an intensive training plan (as part of an annual training cycle). Results. At the end of the study, there was a significant increase in fat-free mass and muscle mass, with a significant decrease in fat mass (both in absolute and relative terms) in both ashwagandha and placebo groups (main effect of time, p 0.05). Moreover, intense wrestling training induced an increase in blood creatine kinase activity as an indicator of muscle tissue damage (main effect of time, p 0.05 for main effect of group and interaction of time and group). However, the increase in creatine kinase activity during the study seemed to be more pronounced in the placebo group (post-hoc; p 0.05). Conclusions. In conclusion, ashwagandha supplementation at 600 mg daily for 8 weeks is well tolerated and safe for professional wrestlers. This strategy does not appear to offer additional body composition benefits beyond the effect of intense wrestling training. On the other hand, our results indicate some potential for ashwagandha in improving muscle tissue recovery, which needs to be confirmed on a larger population of athletes.

Keywords: herbal supplement; athletes; fat free mass; fat mass; biochemical parameters (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.2478/pjst-2023-0022 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:spotou:v:30:y:2023:i:4:p:26-32:n:3

DOI: 10.2478/pjst-2023-0022

Access Statistics for this article

Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism is currently edited by Ryszard Cieśliński

More articles in Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().