Influence of ingesting brown rice powder on the antioxidant capacity of long distance athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify the influence of the ingestion of brown rice powder on the antioxidant capacity of long distance runners.Fourteen long distance runners were randomly divided into two groups; a brown rice group (seven members) and a placebo group (seven members). In the brown rice group, capsules containing brown rice powder were taken three times a day (about 1.75±0.04 g/day during breakfast, lunch, dinner). They were taken for 6 weeks. Meanwhile, the same capsule containing starch was also administered to the placebo group for the same time period. In addition, consideration was given so that individual subjects could not recognize whether they were members of the brown rice powder intake group or the placebo group throughout the intake period (a single blind test). The results showed that the biological anti-oxidant potential (BAP) of the brown rice group increased significantly compared with placebo group (p<0.05). From these results, it appeared that ingestion of about 1.75g of brown rice powder per day for about 6 weeks affected the BAP of the male long-distance athlete. This suggests that ingestion of brown rice powder may suppress the decline in BAP due to practice. In the future, however, it is desirable to investigate by increasing the number of subjects or prolonging the intake period. This research suggested that ingestion of brown rice powder suppressed the decrease in BAP due to practice.