Multiple intakes of Nigella sativa before and after exercise-induced muscle damage does not influence muscle damage and inflammatory cytokines

Abstract

Introduction Nigella sativa is known to have potentanti-inflammatory effects. Thus, the present study investigated the hypothesis that Nigella sativa ingestion would reduce muscle damage and inflammation after eccentric exercise.Material and methods Twenty sedentary men aged 19 to 27 years were assigned to 2 groups, either Nigella sativa (N) or control (C). N group was administered 2000mg/day of Nigella sativafrom 2 weeks before exercise to 4 days post-exercise and C group was administered a placebo. They underwent 10 sets X 10 repetitions of counter-movement jump (CMJ) with 30-secondrest between each set, employing squat in starting and landing position to facilitate muscle damage. A set of tests were conducted to measure indirect muscle damage and inflammation markers (muscular power, range of motion (ROM), thigh circumference, soreness, creatine kinase [CK]; interleukin-6 [IL-6] and interleukin-1β [IL-1β]) at pre-exercise, 30 minutes, 1-, 2-, 3-and 4-days post-exercise.Changes in the separameters overtime were compared between N and C groups by two-way repeated-measures ANOVA.Results Significant changes were noted in muscular power, ROM, thigh circumference, soreness and CK from pre-exercise at most of the measurement sessions for N and C groups (p<0.05), but no significant changes were marked in IL-6 and IL-1β at all measurement sessions for N and C groups (p>0.05). There were also no significant differences between groups for all markers of muscle damage and inflammation at all measurement sessions (p>0.05).Discussions and conclusion Significant changes in muscular power, ROM, thigh circumference, soreness and CK from pre-exercise at most of the measurement sessions for both groups suggested that the eccentric exercise modelused in this study was enough to induce muscle damage,but it might be too mild to activate the inflammatory cytokines. No significant differences between groups for all markers of muscle damage and inflammation at all measurement sessions suggested that Nigella sativa ingestion does not attenuate indirect markers of muscle damage and inflammation following mild eccentric exercise model.