Ergogenic effects of pre-exercise chicken broth consumption on high-intensity cycling time trial.

Barbaresi, S., Blancquaert, L., Nikolovski, Z., et al. Ergogenic effects of pre-exercise chicken broth intake on high-intensity cycling time trials. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 18, 15 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-021-00408-6

Commentary

This study was conducted to assess the ergogenic potential of pre-exercise ingestion of homemade chicken broth (CB) and placebo supplements during a brief high-intensity cycling exercise.

A double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover intervention study was conducted in 14 men, where subjects ingested either CB and 46.4 mg/kg body weight of HCD or placebo soup (similar to the flavor without HCD) 40 minutes prior to performing an 8-minute cycling time trial (TT).

Venous blood samples were collected upon arrival (fasting), before exercise, and during a 5-minute recovery period. Plasma HCD was measured by UPLC-MS/MS and glutathione (in red blood cells) was measured by HPLC.

As a result, a significant improvement in 8-minute TT mean power was observed after CB supplementation compared to placebo. Post-exercise plasma carnosine (p < 0.05) and anserine (p < 0.001) were significantly increased after CB supplementation but not placebo, and no significant effect of CB supplementation on blood glutathione levels or capillary analysis was observed.

The reason this food was included in the study was that chicken extract is a popular functional food in Asia and is rich in the bioactive compounds carnosine and anserine, two histidine-containing dipeptides (HCDs).

Previous studies had suggested that acute intake of chicken extract prior to exercise has important uses in controlling exercise performance and fatigue.