The Individual and Combined Effect of Intense Intermittent Exercise and Ginger Medicinal Plant on Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Middle-aged Athlete Men

Scientific evidences indicate on beneficial effects of ginger on cardiovascular disease. This study was to investigate the effect of a short period of intense intermittent exercise and ginger on selected cardiovascular risk factors in male athletes.

The present quasi-experimental study performed on 46 male soccer players (40-50 years old) with pre-test and post-test design, divided into four groups as exercise (n=12), exercise and ginger (n=10), ginger (n=12) and control (n=12). Severe intermittent training was performed for four weeks, accompany with ginger (3,000 mg daily). Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) were measured in both pre-test and post-tests. To analyzing data, covariance analysis test with Bonferroni post hoc test and paired t-test were used in SPSS software.

Concurrent exercise and ginger intervention significantly decreased serum CRP (P=0.001), diastolic blood pressure (P=0.001) and resting systolic (P=0.001) compared to the control group. In addition, significant improvement in baseline serum CRP (P=0.04), systolic BP (P<0.001) and resting diastolic BP (P=0.001) was observed in the Ginger + exercise group after four weeks.

Concurrent ginger consumption and intensive aerobic exercise have a positive effect on cardiovascular risk factors and can be used as non-pharmacological solutions to prevent cardiovascular diseases.