The Comparison between the Effects of Two Methods of Weight Loss (Dehydration and Diet)on Some Physiological and Biochemical Factors in Elite Wrestlers

In this study, the effects of dehydration (sauna) and diet (reduction of daily food intake) on selected physiological and biochemical factors were compared in two groups of wrestlers weighting between 65 -85 kgs who lost 4% of their weight using one of the mentioned methods. Factors measured in the pre- and post-test were: glucose, urea, cratinin, uric acid, cholesterol, Na, k, protein, cortisol, white and red cells, hemoglobin and hematocrite. This study is a semi-experimental research. The population of the study includes wrestlers of 65 to 85kgs from Razavi Khorason province who have wrestled for about 5 years. The participants were randomly divided into two experimental groups (10 dehydration and 10 diet). The diet group were on diet for 10 days to lose about 4 percent of their weight while the dehydration group went to sauna for 3 hours to lose the same amount of weight. Blood samples were taken before and after the weight loss. and were analyzed using the Auto Analyzer system. The statistical analysis (α=0.05) showed a significant decrease in cratinin, monocytes, eosinophiles and a significant increase in glucose, cholesterol, Na, k, cortisol, white and red cells, hemoglobin, hematocrit and nutrophiles of the dehydration group. In the diet group cratinin and eosinophiles had a significant decrease while urea, uric acid and protein had a significant increase. Discussion and According to the results and the background studies of this research, we may infer that losing weight through dehydration and diet may cause undesirable changes in physiological and biochemical factors of blood especially plasma volume decrease, blood density increase, and changes in ions, electrolytes and hemoglobin. Generally, according to the results of this research, long-term diet along with doing some exercise is recommended for weight loss.