Effects of Lactiplantibacillus pentosus ONRICb0240-containing food on reducing immunosuppression in judo athletes during rapid weight loss

Abstract

Despite the known health impacts of rapid weight loss (RWL) in athletes, effective mitigation strategies, especially nutritional ones, remain underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Lactiplantibacillus pentosus ONRICb0240-containing food (b240) intake on salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) secretion in judo athletes undergoing RWL. Therefore, 17 male competitive college judo athletes were categorized into two groups: the b240 intake (active group; n = 9) and no b240 intake (control group; n = 8). Both groups engaged in 4 weeks of regular training followed by 1 week of RWL. The active group consumed b240 daily, every evening before dinner, throughout the 5-week experiment. Participants documented upper-respiratory symptoms (URS) and abdominal conditions during the study. Saliva samples were collected, and physical fitness tests were performed on each participant at 0 weeks (before intervention), 4 weeks (before weight loss), and 5 weeks (after weight loss). Results showed that salivary SIgA secretion was significantly decreased in the control group after weight loss compared to before the intervention, while no significant changes were observed in the active group. Compared to the control group, URS decreased, and the percentage of days participants reported their abdominal condition as “good” increased in the active group. These findings suggest that regular intake of b240 may be beneficial for reducing the frequency of URS among judo athletes, potentially due to better maintenance of salivary SIgA secretion during training and RWL.