Nutrition & Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage

Have you ever wondered if food can help you recover quickly from muscle fatigue after a long and exhaustive physical activity or exercise? What types of food? Is it best before or after?  But first, let's talk about the pain you feel after physical activity. This type of inflammation is known as exercise-induced muscle damage or EIMD.


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EIMD

Exercise-induced muscle damage is a painful phenomenon that is caused by experimental, intense, or unaccustomed physical activity or exercise. The pain comes right after physical activity and can worsen over time. Sometimes it can last between one to five days.  For some people, it can even last for more than a week. 

Some of us even believe it’s a sign of a good workout.  

Causes

These types of  activities contribute to the enormous soreness from EIMD

  • Prolonged running
  • High-intensity interval training
  • Downhill running
  • Resistance training 


Consequences
You may have suffered from one or all of the following symptoms after doing any of these exercises.

  • Increased muscle soreness
  • Decease ability to do a specific movement
  • Delay in exercise
  • Prevent you from adhering to routine exercise


Who is most Vulnerable to experience EIMD?

Anyone can experience it after an exhaustive physical activity or exercise. 

  •  Athletes
  • People new to exercising Those experimenting with a new type of workout.
How To Fuel Your Workout On Eat-right

How can food be used as a strategy for recovery from EIMD?

They're many ways to help recover from exercise-induced muscle damage; however, the right balance of nutritional food may help. Eating the right food before and after exercise may help you improve faster from EIMD. Even though there are not many studies toward the use of food, most of the studies done have found the following food or food categories very beneficial. 


 Protein

 

Protein is a fundamental category that helps build muscle.  Some searchers have found that the amino acids in protein may help reduce muscle damage and speed up the recovery process. Eating protein-rich food will help you adapt to endurance and resistance exercise. 

Recommendation:

 The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends 1.2 - 2.0g of protein per Kg of body weight a day for athletes. 

The Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI): 0.8g of protein per Kg of body weight (0.36g/pound) for non-athletes


Learn more on this website:  https://www.eatright.org/fitness/sports-and-performance/fueling-your-workout/protein-and-the-athlete

Carbohydrates


Some studies have shown that carbohydrate-rich food alone has a very minimal effect on preventing or reducing muscle damages. They suggested that carbohydrate, combined with protein shows more significant signs of recovery.

Recommendation:
0.8 to 1.2g of carbohydrate per Kg per height (0.8-1.2g CHO/kg/h). And 0.2 to 0.4g of protein per kg per height

Click this link to explore more on:

https://www.eatright.org/fitness/sports-and-performance/fueling-your-workout/basics-of-carbohydrate-loading-for-sports-performance


 

Lipids

Polyunsaturated fats were the main focus of the studies. Some studies found omega three rich food helpful with EIMD recovery. Here are a few examples: 

  • Sardine
  • Salmon
  • Mackerel
  • Herring
  • Anchovies
  • Seafood (mussels and oysters)

Others sources for Omega 3 Fatty Acids on this website: 

https://www.eatright.org/food/vitamins-and-supplements/types-of-vitamins-and-nutrients/what-are-omega-3-fatty-acids

Polyphenols


These three fruits have been proven by the study to be very beneficial for aid in EIMD recovery: Pomegranate, Cherries Berries. 

Read this article to learn more about polyphenols:

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/79/5/727/4690182






Pomagrantes

Cherries

Berries

Vitamin D

People with low vitamin D are slow to recover from exercise-induced muscle damage. The best source of vitamin D the SUN, exercising in nature. 

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References

 

Sousa, M., Teixeira, V., & Soares, J. (2014). Dietary strategies to recover from exercise-induced muscle damage. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 65(2), 151-163.   

Barker, T., Martins, T. B., Hill, H. R., Kjeldsberg, C. R., Dixon, B. M., Schneider, & E. D. (2014). Vitamin D sufficiency associated with an increase in anti-inflammatory cytokines after intense exercise in humans. Cytokine, 65(2), 134–137