Objectives:
An investigation of the immunomudulatory effects of intensive exercise and fish-oil supplement in elite paddlers.
Design:
A randomized double blind placebo-controlled, phase II design will be used for this study.
Setting and conduct:
The study will be performed in department of Immunology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Participants:
Twenty two elite competitive paddlers, all from the Iranian national dragon butt team will participate in our study.
The main inclusion criteria: 18 to 30 years of age, non-smoking, agree to avoid sea foods throughout the study,sign informed consent.
The main exclusion criteria: History of cardiovascular disease or diabetes, allergy to fish oil, appearance of intestinal side effects such as chronic and acute abdominal pains, diarrhea, and vomiting, acute fever and headache, consumption of anti-coagulation drugs such as aspirin or warfarin.
Intervention:
All subjects were randomly selected to receive the placebo (mineral oil, n=11) or
supplementation (n=11) with fish oil in capsules (American,Vita Cost) of 6 gr daily, containing 3.6 gr of n-3 PUFA (2400 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid and 1200 mg of
docohexaenoic acid per day) for 4 weeks. Blood samples (10 ml) will collected at the 48hr before beginning of the study and at the 48hr after end of supplementation period.
Main outcome measures:
The levels of different cytokines including TNF-alpha, IL-1, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-gamma, and IL-4 will be investigated in the supernatant of polyclonally stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits at the 48hr before beginning of the study and at the 48hr after end of supplementation period. Moreover, we will enumerate the frequencies of Th1 and Th2 cells in the peripheral blood of all subjects by flow cytometry.