Effects of garlic extract on anaerobic and aerobic performance of rugby football players.

Abstract

Material and Method : Participants were 20 college rugby football players at Institute of Physical Education, Bangkok Campus. The purposive random sampling was used to recruit 40 volunteers. Simple random sampling was conducted later to select the 20 participants. Then, using VO₂ Max, the participants were divided into four groups. Each group had five participants. Group A received placebo, whereas group B-D received 600, 900 and 1,200 mg of garlic extract, respectively. Five hours after ingestion of the tablet form, subjects underwent an incremental bicycle ergometer test by Astrand and Ryhming protocol for aerobic performance test (VO₂Max) and Wingate protocol for determination of anaerobic performance. A pilot study was conducted to form a load guideline for subjective exhaustion time. In that study, the work load of 750 kgmVmin. was used Before and after receiving garlic extract or placebo, blood pressure was monitored. Data were analyzed using One-Way ANOVA, Honesty Significant Different HSD) and a paired t-test. The significant level was set at 0.05.

Results : VO₂ Max of the four groups were significantly different. HSD was used to test the difference of each pair. Results showed significant difference (p = .05). The anaerobic performances including Peak Power Output (PP), Relative Peak Power Output (RPP), and percentage of Fatigue Index (% Fatigue Index) were not different. The blood pressure was not different for the first week, but became different in the second week (p = .05). The paired t-test revealed that blood pressure of group B (600 mg of garlic extract) was different (t = 4.355; p = 0.012), (t = 8.552; p = 0.001). Moreover, the systolic blood pressure of group c was also significantly different (t = 3.773: p = 0.020).

Conclusions : VO₂ Max of groups that received garlic extract was higher than that of the placebo group. The anaerobic performances (Peak Power Output (PP), Relative Peak Power Output (RPP), Anaerobic Capacity (AC), the Relative anaerobic capacity (RAC) and percentage of Fatigue Index (% Fatigue Index) and endurance time were not different. However, 600 mg of garlic extract reduced both the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, while the 900 mg of garlic extract reduced only the systolic blood pressure เท the second week.