A recent study conducted at the University of Central Florida showed supplementation with XSurge, a sports nutrition ingredient developed by Kemin Industries, reduces inflammation after damaging exercise. Findings from this study were published in “The effect of polyphenols on cytokine and granulocyte response to resistance exercise” in Physiological Reports late last year.
 
The goal of the study was to explore the effect of polyphenols on muscle damage and recovery after resistance exercise in an untrained population. Polyphenols are the natural bioactive compounds found in the tea-based ingredient, XSurge.
 
The study revealed that polyphenol supplementation reduced interleukin-8 (IL-8) protein content in vastus lateralis muscle tissue after damaging exercise, compared to placebo. The study was the first to collect fine-needle biopsies at multiple time points to assess the effects of polyphenol supplementation on IL-8 protein content within skeletal muscle in vivo.
 
“This publication is important for showing the substantiating benefits of XSurge supplementation, and the results contribute to greater understanding of the physiology of recovery after damaging exercise,” said Emily Pankow, PhD, ACSM EP-C, technical services manager for the Kemin active wellness platform, which includes XSurge. “The inclusion of fine-needle muscle biopsies at multiple time points post-exercise provides novel information on the effects of polyphenols, and also provides valuable insights to the field of exercise physiology.”
 
Additional research outcomes were included in an abstract presented at the 2016 National Strength and Conditioning Annual Meeting in New Orleans. These findings support the results of the first study completed on XSurge, indicating that supplementation with polyphenols does not reduce the effects of strength gains during resistance training.
 
The first XSurge supplementation study showed improved muscle recovery after a downhill treadmill run in recreationally active subjects. Measured outcomes of this study included muscle soreness, muscle strength recovery and circulating markers of physiological stress and muscle damage like cortisol and creatine kinase.