| dc.description.abstract | Abstract
Background and Aim: Professional athletes, especially in high-intensity and physically demanding sports like futsal, are prone to muscle injuries, chronic inflammation, and changes in body composition due to intense and continuous training. Nutritional status and targeted interventions can play a key role in reducing these injuries and enhancing athletic performance. Synbiotic supplements, due to their regulatory effects on inflammatory responses, improvement of muscle-related markers, and optimization of body composition, have gained attention as a novel intervention. This study was designed to investigate the impact of synbiotic supplementation on muscle injury markers, inflammation, nutritional status, and body composition in professional futsal players.
Methods: This double-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted on 25 professional futsal players. Participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (synbiotic supplementation, n = 13) or the placebo group (n = 12) for a 12-week period. The synbiotic supplement contained 10⁹ CFU from eight different probiotic strains and 338.5 mg of fructooligosaccharides as a prebiotic, while the placebo group received an identical supplement without active ingredients. Blood samples were collected at baseline and post-intervention, after a standardized simulated futsal match, to assess serum levels of muscle damage markers (creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, and troponin) and inflammatory markers (interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein). Dietary intake, body composition, and anthropometric indices were also evaluated. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26, employing independent t-tests and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), with a significance level set at P < 0.05.
Results: At the end of the study, synbiotic supplementation significantly reduced muscle damage markers, including creatine kinase (P <0.001) and aspartate aminotransferase (P = 0.01), as well as inflammatory markers, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (P <0.001) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (P <0.001), compared to the placebo group. However, changes in other muscle damage markers (troponin and lactate dehydrogenase) and the inflammatory marker interleukin-6 were not statistically significant (P >0.05). Furthermore, body composition indices, including fat mass (P =0.01) and body fat percentage (P =0.01), improved significantly in the intervention group.
Conclusion: Synbiotic supplementation can be considered an effective nutritional approach to reduce muscle injury and inflammation, as well as improve certain body composition markers in professional futsal players. These findings highlight the importance of targeted nutritional interventions for athletes.
Keywords: Synbiotics, muscle injury, inflammation, body composition, futsal | en_US |
