Intermittent fasting compromises the performance of eutrophic rats submitted to resistance training
Letícia Pereira Cavalcante Nutrition Volume 86, June 2021, 111187
Highlights
• Results from the present study provide evidence that intermittent fasting reduces resistance training ladder climbs performance.
• Intermittent fasting did not influence food and water intake, nor did it promote a reduction in body weight or the weight of visceral and subcutaneous inguinal fat tissues.
• Intermittent fasting associated with resistance training ladder climbs increased stomach weight.
• Resistance training ladder climbs increased food intake and muscle strength only in animals that were not subjected to intermittent fasting, with no increase in body weight or the weight of the skeletal muscles.
Abstract
Objectives
The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of intermittent fasting (IF) on the performance of rats subjected to resistance training ladder climbs (RTLCs).
Methods
Thirty-two Wistar rats (80-d-old) were placed into one of the following four groups (n = 8/group): control (C), which were fed a standard diet with no exercise; intermittent fasting (IF) rats underwent IF for 16 h/d, fed a standard diet for a period of 8 h/d with no exercise; trained control (TC) were fed a standard diet and submitted to RTLC; and trained intermittent fasting (TIF) underwent IF for 16 h/d, fed a standard diet for a period of 8 h/d, and submitted to RTLC. Training groups completed 6-wk of RTLC (3 × /wk). The maximal load test (MLT) was applied on two occasions: before the first RTLC session and at the end of week 6 of physical training. Its purpose was to compare changes in performance over time. Both blood collection and total extraction of the organs were performed at the end of the experimental period.
Results
Food intake was higher in the TC group than in either the IF or TIF groups. TC supported a higher load (g) during the final MLT compared with the C, IF, and TIF groups, respectively. TC (initial MLT: 371.4 ± 31.1; final MLT: 593.9 ± 33.5) and TIF (initial MLT: 402.3 ± 31.8; final MLT: 495.4 ± 83.3) presented higher values when the pre- and post-RTLC moments were compared. The relative weight of the stomach was higher in TIF than in C and TC rats. There was no difference in aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase enzyme activities or in creatinine and total cholesterol levels.
Conclusions
IF negatively affected RTLC performance. IF plus RTLC increased the relative weight of the stomach as well as reduced food intake, without an increase in body weight, suggesting this combination may have promoted dilation of this organ, due, hypothetically, to the scarcity of food for several hours and the energy expenditure generated by physical training.