Nutrients (Jan 2023)

Synergistic Effect of <i>Rhodiola rosea</i> and Caffeine Supplementation on the Improvement of Muscle Strength and Muscular Endurance: A Pilot Study for Rats, Resistance Exercise-Untrained and -Trained Volunteers

  • Chang Liu,
  • Haotian Zhao,
  • Yi Yan,
  • Weijun Yang,
  • Songyue Chen,
  • Ge Song,
  • Xuehan Li,
  • Yujia Gu,
  • Hezhang Yun,
  • Yi Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15030582
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 3
p. 582

Abstract

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Multi-level studies have shown that Rhodiola rosea (RHO) and Caffeine (CAF) have the potential to be nutritional supplements to enhance physical performance in resistance exercise-untrained and -trained subjects. This study examined the synergistic effects of RHO (262.7 mg/kg for rats and 2.4 g for volunteers) and CAF (19.7 mg/kg for rats and 3 mg/kg for volunteers) supplementation on improving physical performance in rats, resistance exercise-untrained volunteers and resistance exercise-trained volunteers. Rats and volunteers were randomly grouped into placebo, CAF, RHO and CAF+RHO and administered accordingly with the nutrients during the training procedure, and pre- and post-measures were collected. We found that RHO+CAF was effective in improving forelimb grip strength (13.75%), erythropoietin (23.85%), dopamine (12.65%) and oxygen consumption rate (9.29%) in the rat model. Furthermore, the current results also indicated that the combination of RHO+CAF significantly increased the bench press one-repetition maximum (1RM) (16.59%), deep squat 1RM (15.75%), maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) (14.72%) and maximum repetitions of 60% 1RM bench press (22.15%) in resistance exercise-untrained volunteers. Additionally, despite the excellent base level of the resistance exercise-trained volunteers, their deep squat 1RM and MVIC increased substantially through the synergistic effect of RHO and CAF. In conclusion, combined supplementation of RHO+CAF is more beneficial in improving the resistance exercise performance for both resistance exercise-untrained and -trained volunteers. The present results provide practical evidence that the synergies of RHO and CAF could serve as potential supplementary for individuals, especially resistance exercise-trained subjects, to ameliorate their physical performances effectively and safely.

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