Ultra-endurance races are extreme exercise events that can take place over large parts of a day, several consecutive days or over weeks and months interspersed by periods of rest and recovery. Since the first ultra-endurance races in the late 1970s, around 1000 races are now held worldwide each year, and more than 100000 people take part. Although these athletes appear to be fit and healthy, there have been occasional reports of severe complications following ultra-endurance exercise. Thus there is concern that repeated extreme exercise events could have deleterious effects on health, which might be brought about by the high levels of ROS (reactive oxygen species) produced during exercise. Studies that have examined biomarkers of oxidative damage following ultra-endurance exercise have found measurements to be elevated for several days, which has usually been interpreted to reflect increased ROS production. Levels of the antioxidant molecule GSH (reduced glutathione) are depleted for 1 month or longer following ultra-endurance exercise, suggesting an impaired capacity to cope with ROS. The present paper summarizes studies that have examined the oxidative footprint of ultra-endurance exercise in light of current thinking in redox biology and the possible health implications of such extreme exercise.
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Conference Article|
August 11 2014
Ultra-endurance exercise: unanswered questions in redox biology and immunology
James E. Turner;
James E. Turner
1
*Department for Health, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, U.K.
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (emailj.e.turner@bath.ac.uk).
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Stuart J. Bennett;
Stuart J. Bennett
†Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, U.K.
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Jos A. Bosch;
Jos A. Bosch
‡School of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1018XA, The Netherlands
§Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicine (MIPH), Mannheim Medical Faculty, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg 68167, Germany
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Helen R. Griffiths;
Helen R. Griffiths
†Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, U.K.
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Sarah Aldred
Sarah Aldred
∥School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, U.K.
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
May 01 2014
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2014 Biochemical Society
2014
Biochem Soc Trans (2014) 42 (4): 989–995.
Article history
Received:
May 01 2014
Citation
James E. Turner, Stuart J. Bennett, Jos A. Bosch, Helen R. Griffiths, Sarah Aldred; Ultra-endurance exercise: unanswered questions in redox biology and immunology. Biochem Soc Trans 1 August 2014; 42 (4): 989–995. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20140120
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