The effect of two weeks of curcumin supplementation on serum levels of malondialdehyde and superoxide dismutase after one session of intense intermittent training in overweight and obese girls

Increased oxidative stress due to exercise as well as the body’s ability to deal with its complications cause different levels of health and disease in people. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of two weeks of curcumin supplementation on serum level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) indices after a session of intense intermittent training in overweight and obese girls.

Twenty two overweight and obese girls (mean age: 21±1.79 years; weight: 68.80±7.81 kg; body mass index: 31.18±1.96 kg/m2) as purposefully selected and randomly divided into two homogeneous groups (experimental and placebo) according to age and body mass index. The experimental group was underwent intense acute intermittent activity (shuttle run activity protocol; 85 to 95% heart rate percent) and curcumin supplement (80 mg/day post-lunch). The results were extracted using repeated measures ANOVA, one-way ANOVA, and LSD post hoc tests at the level of p<0.05.

Intense intermittent activity caused a significant increase in MDA (p=0.001) and a significant decrease in SOD (p=0.001) while two weeks of curcumin supplementation caused a significant decrease in MDA (p=0.009) and a significant increase in SOD (p=0.01). On the other hand, two weeks of curcumin supplementation before intense intermittent activity did not significantly change MDA (p=0.06) and SOD (p=0.21).

Two weeks of curcumin supplementation could inhibits lipid peroxidation.