The Effect of Endurance Training and Whey Protein Consumption on Levels of Antioxidant Enzymes and Oxidative Stress in the Heart Muscle of Rats Fed a High-Fat Diet

Whey Protein (WP) is one of the milk products with antioxidant properties. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of endurance training and WP intake on the antioxidant enzymes and oxidative stress of the heart tissue in rats fed a high -fat diet.
Forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: standard diet (n =8) and high-fat diet (n =32). Following 9 weeks of endurance training, the high-fat diet group was randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 8 per group) including Control (CF), Training (TF), WP(WF) and Training WP(TWF). Training included running on a treadmill at a speed of 20 m/min, 5 days per week, for 10 weeks. The values of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were measured in the heart tissue using the ELISA method.
There were more values of H2O2=561/5±164/12 (P=0.005) and less values of GPX=18/74±2/82 (P=0.001) and SOD=2/20±0/409 (P = 0.013) in the high-fat diet group than the normal control group. GPX levels were lower in high- fat diet control group than WP, training and training WP (P 0.05).
Endurance training and WP could improve the oxidative balance of the heart tissue of rats fed a high-fat diet and could help control the side effects of a high-fat diet in the heart.