title: The effect of anthocyanin supplementation on body composition, exercise performance and muscle damage indices in athletes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Flavonoids consider as a large group of plant metabolites that 6,000 types of them have been identified till now. In some studies, it has been shown that they can increase aerobic performance and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of anthocyanin (as one of the most important kind of flavonoids) supplementation on body composition, exercise performance and muscle damage indices in athletes.
  
  
  METHODS
  This double-blinded clinical trial involved 54 female and male athletes at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences with athletic history of at least 3 years. Body composition, exercise performance, creatine kinase, and lactate dehydrogenase were assessed. Individuals were selected by simple sampling method, they divided into two groups using permuted block randomization method. First group received 100 mg anthocyanin pills, and the second group received 100 mg placebo pills, daily for 6 weeks. Participants asked to continue their routine diet and physical activity during the study period, and they were followed through phone calls or text messages.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Soft lean mass, total body water and percent body fat were not changed significantly in the anthocyanin group after intervention but VO2 max increased significantly in the anthocyanin group (48.65 ± 4.73 vs. 52.62 ± 5.04) (P ≤ 0.0001), also a significant difference was observed between two studied groups (52.62 ± 5.04 for intervention group vs. 49.61 ± 5.33 for placebo) (P = 0.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggested that the supplementation with anthocyanin in athletes may improve some indices of performance such as VO2 max.
authors.affiliation: Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Masoome
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yarahmadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Askari
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport Physiology, School of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kargarfard
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghiasvand
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoseini
authors.affiliation: Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Hajar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mohamadi
authors.affiliation: Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asadi
keywords: Anthocyanin; athletes; body composition; exercise performance; muscle damage