Ingestion of High-Oleic Peanut Improves Endurance Performance in Healthy Individuals

Abstract

This study aimed at evaluating whether high-oleic peanuts (with skin), which are rich in oleic acid, could serve as an energy substrate for prolonged exercise and improve endurance performance. We evaluated changes in blood biomarker (triglycerides, free fatty acid (FFA), biological antioxidant potential (BAP), malondialdehyde-modified low-density lipoprotein (MDA-LDL), and serum total protein) levels at 2-h intervals for 6 h after the ingestion of 10 g and 30 g of peanuts. The results were used to determine the timing of peanut ingestion before the endurance performance test. As a result, there was a significant change in the 30-g peanut-ingested condition, and lipid levels increased 2 h after the ingestion of 30 g of peanuts. Accordingly, the endurance performance test was conducted 2 h after ingesting 30 g of peanuts. The endurance performance test involved 70 min of pedaling exercise. We measured pre- and postexercise levels of 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), which is a biomarker of oxidative stress. There was a significantly improved workload in the endurance performance test in the high-oleic peanut-ingested condition than in the control condition. Furthermore, the rate of increase in 8-OHdG was significantly lower in the high-oleic peanut-ingested condition than in the control condition. This suggests that the increase in FFA levels resulting from the ingestion of high-oleic peanuts and the inherent antioxidant effects of peanuts improved the workload during endurance exercise.