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Improving Effect of Canavalia Gladiata on Exercise Capability
Performance Enhancing Effect of Canavalia Gladiata
Beomjeong Kim
1
, Yanghee You
2
, Jeongjin Park
1
, Kyungmi Kim
3
, Jeongmin Lee
4
and Woojin Jun
1,3
1
Division of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea
2
Research Institute for Human Ecology, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea
3
Department of Biofood Analysis, Korea Bio Polytechnic, Chungnam, Korea
4
Department of Medical Nutrition, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Korea
1 OBJECTIVES
Canavalia gladiata is a perennial leguminous
cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics in
Asia. C. gladiata is the excellent sources of starch
and protein, with a good balance of amino acids.
Also, C. gladiata contains the numerous
phytochemicals, which leads to the potential uses as
functional food. Therefore, in present study, the
effects of C. gladiata extracts on endurance exercise
capacity were investigated. The knowledge gained
might aid in the development of effective
performance enhancer.
2 METHODS
C. gladiata was refluxed with 20 L of water or 80%
ethanol at 250°C for 3 h. The extract obtained after
filtering was concentrated and lyophilized. Four-
week-old male ICR mice (19+2 g b.w.) were housed
in cages under automatically controlled air-
conditions of temperature (22±2°C), humidity (about
50%), and lighting (12:12-h light-dark cycle). The
mice were separated into three groups (n=12 per
group) with similar mean of exhaustive swimming
time; exercised control group (CON), water extract
from C. gladiata administered group (CGW), and
ethanol extract from C. gladiata administered group
(CGE). Samples were orally administered 1 g/kg
b.w./day
. The mice were forced to swim 1 h after
the treatment, and the exhaustive swimming time
was measured at 14
th
day. The swimming time of
mice was determined in an adjustable-current
swimming pool (90×45×45 cm) with 38 cm deep
water at 34±1°C. After the experimental period, all
mice were anaesthetized and sacrificed. The blood
lactate level was measured, using the kit which was
supplied by Arkray Inc. (Japan). The level of serum
non esterified fatty acid (NEFA) was evaluated
spectrophotometrically, using commercially
available diagnostic kit supplied by Wako (Japan).
Glycogen measurement was performed using the
anthrone method according to Gierus and Lopez
(1997) and Fadamiro et al. (2005).
3 RESULTS
As shown in Fig. 1, CGE group exhibited
approximately 1.6-fold increase in swimming time
on day 14 (46.7 min) compared to CON group (29.6
min). Also, the endurance exercise capacity of mice
treated with CGE was significantly larger than that
of CGW (32.9 min). The glucose levels of each
group revealed no difference (Fig. 2-A). However,
blood lactate level of CGE was relatively lower than
other groups (Fig. 2-B). Serum NEFA level of CGE
group was significantly increased compared to CON
and CGW groups (Fig. 2-C). Moreover, the amount
of muscular glycogen in CGE group was higher than
those of CON and CGW (Fig. 3).
4 DISCUSSION
In this study, exhaustive swimming time in CGE
group showed a statistically significant increase
compared to CGW group. These results imply that
the organosoluble compounds rather than
hydrosolubles in C. gladiata might be responsible
for the performance enhancing effect. Fatigue
happens when the blood lactate is overproduced.
Therefore, the lactate level is an important indicator
to judge the degree of fatigue (Ding et al., 2011).
The present study revealed that the administration of
CGE decreased the lactate level, confirming that
CGE possessed the performance enhancing
Kim B., You Y., Park J., Kim K., Lee J. and Jun W..
Improving Effect of Canavalia Gladiata on Exercise Capability - Performance Enhancing Effect of Canavalia Gladiata.
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2014 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)