title: THE EFFECTS OF CURCUMIN AND FENUGREEK SOLUBLE FIBER ON THE PHYSICAL WORKING CAPACITY AT THE FATIGUE THRESHOLD, PEAK OXYGEN CONSUMPTION, AND TIME TO EXHAUSTION
Creators: name: Herrick, Lauren
Publisher: name: University of Kentucky Libraries
Year: 2019

description: Curcumin,  a polyphenol,  has  been suggested  to improve metabolic  byproduct clearance and increasenitric  oxide  productionin  working  muscle.  These  purported effects  may  delay  neuromuscular  fatigue. Therefore,  the purpose  of this  study was to examine  the  effects  of curcuminin  combination  with  fenugreek  (CUR)  or fenugreek soluble  fiber  alone  (FEN)on the  neuromuscular  fatigue  threshold  (PWCFT), time  to exhaustion  (Tlim) on a graded  exercise  test (GXT),  and 𝑉̇O2peakin  untrained subjects. Forty-seven,college-aged,  aerobically  untrained  individuals were randomly  assigned  to one of three  supplementation  groups;  placebo  (PLA, n=15), curcumin  + fenugreek, CurQfen® (CUR, n=18),  or fenugreek soluble  fiber (FEN, n=14).  All  subjects  performed a maximal  GXT  on a cycle  ergometer to determine the PWCFT,Tlim, and V̇O2peakbefore (PRE-test)  and after (POST-test) 28 days  of daily  supplementation. Statistical  analyses included  3 separate,  one-way  ANCOVAs to determine  if  there  were any  differences among  the groups  (PLA, CUR, FEN) for adjusted  post-test scores for  the PWCFT,  V̇O2peak, and Tlim. The  respective pre-test score was used as the  covariate. In addition, reliability  analyses (PRE-to POST-test) for the PLA group  were used to calculate  the minimal  difference  needed  to be real  (MD). The adjusted  POST PWCFT values  showed no statistical  differences  between  groups  (F= 3.141 p= 0.053); however  pairwise  LSD comparisons  indicated  a significant  difference  between  the  CUR and PLA groups  (p= 0.016), but  not between  the CUR and FEN groups. Therefore,  separate  one-way ANCOVAs were used to examine  the adjusted  PWCFT means  for the  PLA vs. CUR (F = 4.906, p =0.035) and  the PLA vs.  FEN (F = 2.969, p = 0.097). The  one-way  ANCOVA for 𝑉̇O2 peak (F= 0.612 p= 0.547)and Tlim (F = 0.688, p = 0.508) values  showed  no statistical  difference among  the groups.  Individual  responses  in  each group  showed  ~ 20% of  subjects in  the CURgroup,  ~ 7% in  the  FEN group,  and ~6% in  the  PLA group had values greater  than  the MD for  the  PWCFT, but none  of  the subjects in  the PLA, FEN, or CUR groups exceeded the  MD for 𝑉̇O2peak or Tlim. These  findings  indicated CurQfen®  supplementation  increased the  PWCFT compared to a placebo,  but not compared  to fenugreek soluble  fiber alone.  However,  there  were no effects  of CurQfen® on V̇O2peak or Tlim. The  mechanisms  responsible  for  delaying  time  to neuromuscular fatigue  may  include  increased  NO production and increased  blood flow  to remove metabolic  byproducts; however, the cellular  changes  which  could  lead to increases  in  Tlim and 𝑉̇O2peak may  not  have  been sensitive  to the GXT  protocol  or the  given  dosage  of curcumin  supplementation. Considering  individual  responses,  CurQfen® supplementation  resulted  in  a real  change  in  the PWCFT for a small  portion  of  the subjects (~20%). These  findings  suggested that  CurQfen®  supplementation  without  exercise training  may  help  to improve  time  to neuromuscular  fatigue  in  certain  individuals,  but  the group  mean  analyses  were not  necessarily  reflective  of  the responses  for  a majority  of the subjects. 
description: Copyright  © Lauren  Herrick  2019