The Effect of Herbal Ginseng Supplementation on Athletes' Cellular Damage

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of short-term ginseng supplement on lactate dehydro- genase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) as muscular damage indices, in young athletes after exhaustive aerobic ex- ercise. In a quasi-experimental study, twenty young athletes were randomly selected in two placebo and ginseng supplement groups. Subjects of supplement group took 2gr ginseng capsules daily for one week, whiles the oth- er group took placebos in the same amount. After seven days of taking supplement, all subjects of both groups underwent in an exhaustive aerobic exercise test that performed on treadmills. Venous blood samples were col- lected in four phases; 1) before starting the supplement and in basic states 2) after the end supplement period and immediately before exercises 3) immediately after and 4) 24 hrs. after exercise were studied. The data was statistically analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA and post hoc Bonferroni test in 0.05 significantly. The results of the present study indicated that the LDH activity significantly increases in both groups at immediately and 24 hours after aerobic exercise (P>0.05). (P=0.001). While taking ginseng prevents the abundant increase in the CK in supplement group than placebo group at 24 hours after exercise (P=0.012). In general, it can be concluded that short-term ginseng supplement can prevent the increase in the CK and thus, cause the modulation of muscular cells damage after exhaustive aerobic exercise.