July 9, 1998

Olympic Rowers’ immune systems

studied by ASU faculty, staff

 When the U.S. women’s rowing team competes in he 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, they’ll have Appalachian State University reasearch on their side.
 
A group of Appalachian faculty and graduate students worked with the rowers this summer at an Olympic training facility near San Diego, Calif., to study how intense workouts affect their immune systems. The U.S. Olympic Committee selected the Appalachian group for the opportunity from a nationwide applicant pool.
 
“We’re trying to help the team realize that if they drink carbohydrate beverages before, during and after training, they’ll experience less physiological stress to their immune systems, which in the long term means they’re not as sick as often and can compete without interruptions,” said Nieman, a professor in Appalachian’s Department of Health, Leisure and Exercise Science.
 
Earlier studies by Nieman and other Appalachian faculty and students have shown that athletes who consume carbohydrate drinks, like Gatorade or PowerAde, before, during and after heavy exertion reduce their risks of developing upper respiratory infections because the carbohydrates lessen the body’s production of the hormone cortisol.
 
Cortisol, which the body produces during heavy exercise, weakens the immune system by suppressing activity of disease-fighting cells, according to the studies.
 
Nieman said the group discovered the 20-member team typically does not drink carbohydrate beverages even though it trains in two 90-minute, high intensity sessions each day.
 
The Appalachian group had the rowers consume carbohydrate beverages and then drew blood samples to determine the beverages’ effects. The group also tested a sedentary control group for comparison. Results from the study will be reported to the U.S. Olympic Committee later this summer.
 
The Appalachian research team consisted of Nieman, Dru Henson, associate professor in he Department of Biology, and exercise science graduate students Jannica Hjertman, Mark Bolton, Melanie Austin and Brian Shillings. They worked with a 10-member research team from Loma Linda University.
 
For additional information concerning the study visit the ASU News Bureau Website at www.appstate.edu/www_docs/news/releases

E-mail The Appalachian Online at theapp@conrad.appstate.edu