Background. The somatic features of the athletes’ bodies partially determine their sporting level and are conditioned to a large extent by the state of nutrition.Objective. The aim of this paper is to present nutritional status and its correlation with the somatic determinants of training athletes and physical education students.Material and methods. This study involved 12 weightlifting players (subgroup-WL), 15 soccer players (subgroup-SP), 12 table tennis players (subgroup-TT) and 12 female students of physical education (subgroup-C). In all subjects, the age and somatic variables were recorded and the daily intake of energy, water, proteins, fats and carbohydrates was determined by 24-h dietary recalls.Results. Although the analysis of variance did not show significant differences in somatic variables and nutrition data, post hoc analysis showed significant differences between some subgroups in terms of age, BMI, fat content (BF), fat-free mass (FFM) and the amount of water, protein and carbohydrates consumed during the day. It was also shown that somatic variables correlated with relatively expressed amounts of energy, proteins and carbohydrates consumed in individual subgroups, as well as in the whole group formed from all subgroups of studied women. In addition, there were significant correlations between somatic variables and the total amount of water consumed in the whole group and the total amount of protein consumed in subgroup C (p<0.05), as well as the total amount of fat consumed in subgroup WL.Conclusions. In summary, it was found that the examined women used an abnormal hypoenergetic diet with too low carbohydrate content in which were more useful relative than absolute amounts of consumed proteins, fats and carbohydrates.In this unfavorable situation, dietary education of the respondents seems to be necessary. STRESZCZENIEWprowadzenie. Cechy somatyczne organizmu sportowca częściowo determinują jego poziom sportowy i są uwarunkowane w znacznym stopniu stanem odżywienia.Cel. Celem prezentowanej pracy jest przedstawienie stanu odżywienia i jego współzależności z somatycznymi uwarunkowaniami trenujących sportsmenek i studentek wychowania fizycznego.Materiał i metody. Badaniom poddano 12 zawodniczek podnoszących ciężary (podgrupa- WL), 15 piłkarek nożnych (podgrupa-FP), 12 tenisistek stołowych (podgrupa- TT) oraz 12 studentek wychowania fizyczngo (podgrupa- C). U wszystkich badanych zarejestrowano wiek i zmienne somatyczne oraz określono dobową ilość przyjmowanej energii, wody, białek, tłuszczów i węglowodanów z zastosowaniem techniki 24 h rejestracji wstecznej.Wyniki. Pomimo, że analiza wariancji nie wykazała istotnych różnic w zakresie zmiennych somatycznych i danych żywieniowych to w analizie post hoc wykazano występowanie istotnych różnic pomiędzy niektórymi podgrupami w zakresie: wieku, wskaźnika BMI, zawartości tłuszczu (BF), beztłuszczowej masy ciała (FFM) oraz ilości wody, białka i węglowodanów spożywanych w ciągu doby. Wykazano też, że zmienne somatyczne korelowały z względnie wyrażonymi ilościami spożywanej energii, białek i węglowodanów w poszczególnych podgrupach, jak i w całej grupie utworzonej ze wszystkich podgroup badanych kobiet. Ponadto wystąpiły istotne korelacje pomiędzy zmiennymi somatycznymi a globalną ilością spożywanej wody w całej grupie oraz globalną ilością spożywanego białka w podgroupie C (p<0.05), jak i globalną ilością spożywanego tłuszczu w podgroupie WL.Wnioski. Reasumując, stwierdzono, że badane kobiety stosowały nieprawidłową hipoenergetyczną dietę o zbyt małej zawartości węglowodanów w kontroli której bardziej przydatne były relatywne niż absolutne ilości spożywanych białek, tłuszczów i węglowodanów. W tej niekorzystnej sytuacji edukacja dietetyczna badanych wydaje się być konieczna.

Tracking changes in the body during fasting takes into account indicators of mental well-being and physiological parameters. The aim of the study was to measure psychological and physiological reactions, along with their mutual relations, caused by 8 days of water-only fasting. Fourteen men aged 35 to 60 participated in the study, divided into two groups, younger and elder. In addition to physiological parameters, psychological data were collected using four different tests. The obtained results confirmed reduction in body weight, systolic blood pressure, resting diastolic blood pressure and glucose level, and increase in resting heart rate, cortisol and β-hydroxybutyrate concentration. However, no significant psychological changes were observed under the influence of fasting intervention. A significant interaction effect occurred for the state anxiety variable determined before and after the fasting intervention for both groups. Moreover, negative correlations between physiological (cortisol) and psychological factors of subjectively assessed stress were revealed. The only effect on cognitive ability was seen when responding to simple tasks. The study confirmed the beneficial effect of 8 days of water-only fasting on physiological variables without affecting mental well-being. The relatively high level of well-being after fasting intervention was independent of the physiological indicators of stress.

The objective of this research was to determine whether chronic (average 3.58 ± 1.56 years) deliberate adherence to low carbohydrate diets (LCDs) is associated with selected markers of metabolism, risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD), body mass and physical performance in apparently healthy middle-aged men (n = 12). The control group comprised age, body mass and height matched men using mixed diets (MDs). The diets used were registered for 7 days and analyzed in terms of the energy, carbohydrate, fat and protein contents. It was found that the diets used were isoenergetic, yet varied considerably in carbohydrate and fat content. The LCDs significantly intensified the ketogenesis process, increased resting blood total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and heart rate, (HR) and decreased respiratory exchange ratio (RER) in relation to MD subjects. An exercise trial revealed significant impairment of exercise in subjects following the LCDs. The results showed that in the case where the subjects of two investigated groups did not differ in their somatic variables, long-term adherence to the LCDs was associated with substantially reduced exercise performance in apparently healthy subjects, along with an association with a small unfavorable effect on their lipid profile.

The aim of this study was to determine whether, after 8 days of water-only fasting, there are changes in the efficiency of the lower urinary tract, the concentration of sex hormones, and the symptoms of prostate diseases in a group of middle-aged men (n = 14). For this purpose, before and after 8 days of water-only fasting (subjects drank ad libitum moderately mineralized water), and the following somatic and blood concentration measurements were made: total prostate specific antigen (PSA-T), free prostate specific antigen (PSA-F), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteotropic hormone (LH), prolactin (Pr), total testosterone (T-T), free testosterone (T-F), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), sex hormone globulin binding (SHGB), total cholesterol (Ch-T), β-hydroxybutyrate (β-HB). In addition, prostate volume (PV), volume of each testis (TV), total volume of both testes (TTV), maximal urinary flow rate (Qmax), and International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) values were determined. The results showed that after 8 days of water-only fasting, Qmax and IPSS improved but PV and TTV decreased significantly. There was also a decrease in blood levels of PSA-T, FSH, P, T-T, T-F, and DHEA, but SHGB concentration increased significantly. These results indicate that 8 days of water-only fasting improved lower urinary tract functions without negative health effects.

Background: Changes in blood pressure during subjects’ exercise are individually different. The reasons of these differences are unknown. Aim of the study: The aim of this paper is to investigate the rate of changes in cardiovascular system at rest and at physical load which enhance systolic blood pressure (SBP) = 200 mmHg in people with different physical performance. Material and methods: The studies included 18 soccer players and 14 students who do not practice any sport, whose age, body mass, body height and BMI have been similar, and who at baseline were measured systolic blood pressure (SBPr), diastolic blood pressure (DBPr) and heart rate (HRr). Then, the subjects performed exercise on a cycloergometer with increasing intensity in which at the level of the systolic blood pressure = 200 mm Hg (SBP200) were measured DBP200 and HR200. In terms of resting and exercise time the size of the mean arterial pressure (MAPr, MAP200), pulse pressure (PPr, PP200) and rate-pressure product (DPr, DP200) were calculated. Moreover the power achieved in PWC170 test (W and W/kg) and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) (ml/min and ml/min/kg) were also calculated. Results: Soccer players have reached a higher power in PWC170 and higher VO2max and lower HR200 and DP200 (p<0,001), as well as lower values of HRr (p<0,01) than students however SBP, DBP, MAP and PP registered during rest and during exercise did not differ between the groups. Among the players power reached at PWC170 (W) correlate negatively with DP200 – (p<0,05) and VO2max (ml/min; ml/min/kg) also correlated negatively with HRr (p<0,05, p<0,01). Among students power reached at PWC170 (W, W/kg) and VO2max (ml/min, ml/min/kg) correlate negatively with HR200 and DP200. Moreover VO2max (ml/min/kg) correlate negatively with HRr. Conclusions: Studies have shown that, despite differences in physical performance of both groups, there were no significant changes in blood pressure at rest or modified during exercise. However, at extremely high increase in SBP improved economization in function of the heart and circulatory system independent of the size of physical performance of the subjects were observed.

Background: Vitamin D plays pleiotropic roles in the body and hence, changes in its metabolism and distribution during starvation could play an important role in the adaptive response to famine. We aimed to identify the responses of some vitamin D metabolites to 8 d of fasting and exercise. Methods: A repeated-measures design was implemented, in which 14 male volunteers fasted for 8 d and performed an exercise test before and after fasting. Serum samples were collected on day 1 after night fasting and after 8 d of complete food restriction, before and 1 h and 3 h after exercise. Results: After 8 d of fasting, compared with baseline values, serum 24,25(OH)₂D₃ and 3-epi-25(OH)D₃ levels significantly increased; those of 25(OH)D₃ and 1,25(OH)₂D₃ were unaffected; and those of 25(OH)D₂ decreased. Exercise on the first day of fasting induced an increase in serum 3-epi-25(OH)D₃ levels, while exercise performed after 8 d of fasting induced an increase in 25(OH)D₃, 24,25(OH)₂D₃, 25(OH)D₂, and 3-epi-25(OH)D₃ levels. Conclusion: Increases in 24,25(OH)₂D₃ and 3-epi-25(OH)D₃ levels imply that fasting stimulates vitamin D metabolism. The effects of exercise on serum vitamin D metabolites, which are most pronounced after fasting and in subjects with serum 25(OH)D₃ above 25 ng/mL, support the notion that fasting and exercise augment vitamin D metabolism.