Effect of Zinc and Selenium Supplementation on Serum Testosterone and Plasma Lactate in Cyclist After an Exhaustive Exercise Bout

Abstract

Zinc and selenium are essential minerals and have roles for more than 300 metabolic reactions in the body. The purpose of this study was to investigate how exhaustive exercise affects testosterone levels and plasma lactate in cyclists who were supplemented with oral zinc and selenium for 4 weeks. For this reason, 32 male road cyclists were selected equally to four groups: PL group, placebo; Zn group, zinc supplement (30 mg/day); Se group, selenium supplement (200 μg/day); and Zn-Se group, zinc-selenium supplement. After treatment, free, total testosterone, and lactate levels of subjects were determined before and after exhaustive exercise. Resting total, free testosterone, and lactate levels did not differ significantly between groups, and were increased by exercise (P > 0.05). Serum total testosterone levels in Zn group were higher than in Se group after exercise (P < 0.05). Serum-free testosterone levels in the Zn group were higher than the other groups (P < 0.05).There was an insignificant difference between levels of lactate in the four groups after exercise (P > 0.05). The results showed that 4-week simultaneous and separately zinc and selenium supplementation had no significant effect on resting testosterone and lactate levels of subjects who consume a zinc and selenium sufficient diet. It might be possible that the effect of zinc supplementation on free testosterone depends on exercise.

A–Z of nutritional supplements: dietary supplements, sports nutrition foods and ergogenic aids for health and performance: Part 46

“…Shafiei Neek et al 5 demonstrated that providing 30 mg of Zn per day for 4 weeks had no effect on T. Kilic6 reported that Zn supplementation for 4 weeks prevented decreases in T caused by fatiguing exercise. However, the dose/serving size used was very high (3 mg/kg/day of Zn sulphate) or ∼85 mg/day for a 70 kg person, and higher than the tolerable upper intake level of Zn for adults (40 mg/day6).…”

Effect of some traditional edible oils on sex hormones of albino Wistar rats

“…It is thought also that sesame oil can boosts sex drive and improve sperm counts in males because of its reported high zinc content (Bamigboye et al, 2010). Zinc-rich diet and supplementary zinc are shown to be effective in raising testosterone level, hence improved body composition, sex drive and increase semen volume in men (Shafiei et al, 2011). This claim has however not been established firmly by scientific research, hence form part of the major objectives of the present investigation.…”

“…It is plausible to think that this testosterone increase may be an effect of the zinc component of the seed oils. Sesame oil is reportedly rich in zinc (Kanu, 2011), and previous studies have also shown that zinc rich-diets and diet supplementation with zinc are extremely effective at raising testosterone levels and helping men to improve their body composition, sex drive and increase semen volume (Shafiei et al, 2011). The oils-incorporated diets have by this testosterone and LH productions also shown possible capacity to positively influence male fertility.…”

Effects of Exercise Intervention on the Improvement of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

“…Thirdly, prolonged and intense exercise caused a decrease in blood testosterone, which may be caused by the body's hormones and some trace elements. For example, long time exercise or exercise training had obvious influence on zinc and selenium, zinc and selenium deficiency caused serum testosterone to drop [57]. Finally, some scholars have found that exercise could improve the expression of visfatin and promote the differentiation of visceral fat cells, and the differentiated fat cells contained a large number of insulin receptors, thus improving the sensitivity of insulin.…”