4.4. Antioxidant Function and Blood Lactate
Humans possess antioxidants to protect themselves from free radicals, and they can be categorized as enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. SOD, CAT, and GPx are the most effective enzymatic antioxidants that maintain physiological homeostasis by eliminating free radicals and ROS [The BAP measures the total oxidative power of the blood by assessing the concentration of antioxidants (e.g., vitamin C). Before exercise, there was no significant difference between the trials; however, immediately after exercise, there was a statistically significant increase in BAP levels in the VitC+Glu trial compared with BAP levels in the placebo trial. dROM is a measure of the concentration of acidifying substances, including hydroperoxide, and a low value indicates slower generation of ROS or faster elimination of ROS than its production. In this study, there was a significant decrease in dROM levels in the VitC+Glu trial at all three time points compared with dROM levels in the VitC or placebo trials. This indicated that the intake of VitC+Glu increased the concentration of total antioxidants in the blood, leading to a decrease in the concentration of peroxides. Thus, it can be inferred that antioxidant capacity was enhanced. Kelly et al. [In this study, the blood lactate concentration after prolonged submaximal exercise was significantly lower when VitC+Glu was consumed prior to exercise. Lactate concentration is a measure of the balance between lactate production and elimination. A previous study [