Effect of Ziziphus jujuba Supplementation before One Session of Acute Resistance Exercise on the Serum Glutathione Peroxidase and Superoxide Dismutase Activity

Aims: Intense exercise damages tissues and disturb some cellular processes through oxidative stress and antioxidants can modulate intense exerciseinduced oxidative stress. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of Ziziphus jujube supplements on the glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in serum after a single session of resistance training. Materials & Methods: In this semi-experimental study, 24 young non-athletes females were purposefully selected and were randomly divided into two groups; Ziziphus jujube consumption+intensive resistance exercise and intensive resistance exercise. The first group received 0.4g/kg of body weight of Ziziphus jujube daily for 3 weeks, but another group prohibited from Ziziphus jujube consumption. Both groups carried out a session of intensive resistance exercise consisting of 5 movements at 90% of one maximum repetition. Blood samples were measured in three phases; baseline, after 3 weeks of the Ziziphus jujube consumption, and after the resistance exercise session. In order to valuation the enzymes activity the enzymatic method was used. Data were analyzed by the repeated measures ANOVA and LSD tests in SPSS 22 software. Findings: The Ziziphus jujube supplement significantly increased GPX activity (p=0.001) but it had no significant (p=0.19) influence on SOD activity. In addition, intensive resistance training significantly decreased the SOD (p=0.03) and GPX (p=0.02) activity immediately after exercise. Conclusion: Using Ziziphus jujube supplements improves the antioxidant enzyme activity of GPX, but this improvement is not likely enough to inhibit the depression of the antioxidant status after performing resistance exercise.