EXERCISE TRAINING AND

ENDOCRINE FUNCTION
SHORT TERM EFFECTS
Moderate exercise:
A moderate exercise bout boosts natural immune
functions and host defenses for upto several hours
Effects include increase in natural killer(NK) cell
activity
These enhance bloods cytotoxic capacity and
provide first line of defense against pathogens
NK cells demonstrate spontaneous cytolytic
activity, inactivates the viruses and depresses the
metastatic potential of tumor cells
Exhaustive exercise:
Prolonged exhaustive exercise severely depresses
bodys first line of defense against infection.
Repeated cycles of unusually intense exercise and
sports participation further compound the risk.
For example, impaired immune function from
streneous exercise carries over to a second bout
of exercise on the same way to augment negative
changes in neutrophils, lymphocytes .
Elevated temperature, cytokines and various stress related
hormones (epinephrine, growth hormone, beta-endorphins)
in exhaustive exercise may mediate transient depression in NK
cell and neutrophil cytotoxicity and depresses adaptive
immune defenses
Reduced immunity following strenous exercise remains
in the mucosal immune system of the upper
respiratory tract.
This negative effect on immune response clearly
supports the wisdom of advising individuals with upper
respiratory tract infection symptoms to refrain from
phyical activity to optimise normal immune mechanism
that combat infection
Immune system components that
exhibit change following prolonged
intense exercise
High neutrophil and low lymphocyte blood
counts
Increase in blood granulocyte , monocyte
phagocytosis
Decrease in granulocyte oxydative burst activity
(killing activity)
Decrease in nasal mucociliary clearance
Decrease in NK cell cytotoxic activity.
Decrease in T-cell function
Long term exercise effects
Aerobic training positivey effects natural
immune function in young and old individuals
and in obese persons during weight loss.
Areas of improvement include:
Enhanced functional capacity of natural cytotoxic
NK cell activity.
Deminished age related decrease in T-cell function
and associated cytokine production.
The cytotoxic T-cells defend directly against viral
and fungal infections.
Open window hypothesis maintains that an Inordinate
increase in the training or competition exposes the
athlete to non normal stress that transiently but
severely depresses NK cell function.
This period of immuno depression decreases natural
resistance to infection.
The inhibitory effect of strenous exercise on ACTH
(adreno cortico trophic hormone) and cortisols
maintenance of optimal blood glucose concentrations
may negatively affect the immune process
For individuals who exercise regularly but only
at moderate levels, the window of
oppurtunity for infection remains closed.
Thus maintaning protective benefits of regular
exercise on immune function.

RESISTANCE TRAINING
It activates the Monocytes more than typically
observed for aerobic training
Monocytes activation release prostaglandins that
down regulate NK cells following exercise.
Thus, blunting the long term positive effect of
exercise on NK cells.
These researchers shown a substantial 225%
increase in NK cells following a short term bout of
resistance exercise, a response similar to the
short term effect of moderate aerobic exercise.
Nutritional supplements
Nutrition may optimize immune system function with
strenuous exercise and training
For example , consuming a fat-rich diet (62% energy
from lipids)negatively affected the immune system
compared to a carbohydrate- rich diet (65% energy
from carbohydrates).
In general, endurance athletes who ingest
carbohydrate during a race experience lower disruption
in hormonal and immune measures (indicating a
diminished level of physiologic stress) than athletes not
consuming carbohydrate.
This suggest a carbohydrate induced reaction
in overall physiologic stress in prolonged high
intensity exercise.
In contrast, carbohydrate ingestion during
2hrs of intense resistance training produced
no effect on immune changes compared to
similar training with placebo ingestion.
Micronutrients
Combined supplementation with anti oxidant
vitamin- C and E produces more prominent
immuno potentiating effects (enhance
cytokine production) in young healthy adults
than supplementation with vitamin alone.
200 mg daily vitamin-E supplement enhanced
T-cell mediated function in healthy elderly
subjects.
Daily supplementation with vitamin-C benefits
individuals in intense exercise particularly
those predisposed to frequent URTI.
Runners who received a 600 mg daily vitamin-
C supplement before for 3 weeks following a
90km ultra marathon competition
experienced fewer symptoms of URTI. (i.e.,
running nose, sneezing, soar throat, coughing,
fever) than runners given a placebo.
URTI also appeared most frequently in runners
with strenuous training regimens.
For these individuals, additional vitamin-C and
E and perhaps carbohydrates ingestion before,
during and after prolonged stressful exercise
may boost immune mechanisms for
combating this type of infection.
Glutamine and immune responses
Glutamine supplementation might reduce
susceptibility to URTI following prolonged
competition or a bout of exhaustive training.
Marathoners who ingested a glutamine drink
(5gm/lit glutamine in 330ml mineral water) at the
end of the race and then 2hrs later reported
fewer URTI symptoms than unsupplemented
athletes.
Appearance of URTI in athletes during intense
training does not fluctuate with changes in
plasmaglutamine concentration.
Further more pre exercise glutamine
supplementation does not effect the immune
response following repeated bouts of intense
exercise.
Glutamine supplements taken 0,30,60 and 90 min
after a marathon race prevented the drop in
glutamine concentrations following the race. But
did not influence lymphokine activated killer cell
activity, proliferative responses or exercise
induced changes in mucocyte sub populations.
Based on current evidence, we cannot
recommend glutamine supplements to
reliably blunt immuno suppression from
exhaustive exercise.
In general, endurance athletes who consume
carbohydrate during a race experience a lower
disruption in hormonal and immune measures
than athletes who do not consume
carbohydrate.
The exercise- cancer connection
Epidemiological studies generally demonstrate
a protective association between regular
physical activity and risk of cancers of the
breast, colon, lung and prostrate.
Long term enhancement of other natural
immune functions may contribute to the
cancer protective effect of regular exercise in
addition to exercises beneficial effect on NK
cell activity.
Other potential effects of regular exercise on
cancer development include benificial changes
in the bodies anti-oxidant functions,
endocrine profiles, prostaglandin metablosim ,
body composition and in the colon cancer, a
beneficial increase in intestinal transit time.

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