Effect of herbal antioxidant rich formula on improvement of antioxidant defense system and heat shock protein 70 expression in recreational female athletes A randomized controlled trial

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of natural antioxidant formula (blend of herbs: ginger root, cinnamon bark and raw almond fruit powder, rosemary leaf powder, and honey) on oxidative status, antioxidant enzyme activity, and relative heat shock protein (HSP‑70) expression in recreational female athletes. Eighteen female participants trained for 4 weeks and randomly received either antioxidant formula (FormEX) (n = 8) or placebo (PlcEX) (n = 10) in a randomized controlled trial. Blood samples were obtained 1‑h before, 1 h and 24 h postexercise to measure malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidases (GPx), and HSP70 mRNA expression. Data analysis was performed using 2 (treatment = grouping factor) ×6 (time = within‑factor) repeated measurements analysis of variance or generalized estimating equations (GEE) test. We used the independent t‑test to evaluate any significant differences for real‑time polymerase chain reaction data. Antioxidant formula increased the relative HSP‑70 mRNA expression more than Plc‑EX group in all time points (P = 0.001). The time main effect was significant with regard to TAC and SOD concentrations (P = 0.001 and 0.002, respectively). However, there were no statistically significant differences between groups for TAC, SOD, and MDA (P = 0.25, 0.06, and 0.38, respectively). Neither the time main effect for MDA nor time and intervention interaction was not statistically significant for MDA, TAC, and SOD (P = 0.19, 0.13, and 0.10, respectively). GEE results for GPx showed that there were no significant differences between the groups (P = 0.11). The results presented herein revealed that natural antioxidant rich formula had variable effects on oxidative status. However, in contrast to many antioxidant supplements, this formulation increases the HSP‑70 mRNA expression which might improve the antioxidant ability of cells in the long‑term period and exercise‑induced adaptation.