How are immunodepression and carbohydrates (“carbs”) impacting your workouts?
Muscle-building and weight loss are not the only benefits of exercise. Adequate exercise and ingestion of specific carbohydrates is equally important to helping your body become less susceptible to illness.
Previously, studies suggest that immunodepression, called “open window,” is caused by the reduction of plasma lymphocytes and secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokines, which is a result of high-intensity or prolonged workout and potentially increase susceptibility (1). On the other hand, many studies also indicated that consuming carbohydrates during pre- or intra- workouts modulate the immune system by reducing plasma lymphocytes and anti-inflammatory cytokines secretion (2).
Therefore, we consider that adequate ingestion of carbohydrates to be crucial in achieving maximum health benefits during exercise.
Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin (HBCD) is a complex carbohydrate, which is uniform in molecular structure, exceptionally soluble in water, and allows nutrient-rich solutions to pass from the stomach to the intestines with great speed. Thus, it can provide various benefits of carbohydrates efficiently. Compared to traditional carbohydrate sources like glucose, it is clinically proven to enhance stamina, reduce intestinal discomfort, and reduce fatigue (3, 4, 5).
Moreover, in a recent study, the ingestion of HBCD during the pre- and intra- workout stages of a duathlon race attenuated the reduction of plasma lymphocyte and significantly suppressed anti-inflammatory cytokine concentration in urine compared with glucose trial (6).
REFERENCES：
(6) K. Suzuki et al. “Effect of a sports drink based on highly-branched cyclic dextrin on cytokine responses to exhaustive endurance exercise” J Sports Med Phys Fitness 2014;54: 622-30