Effect of nutri-bar in the development of stamina building and exercise-performance in young male-athletes

Abstract

Nutri-bars were prepared (110 g) using dates (64 g), dried apricots (16 g), cheddar cheese (8 g), whey protein isolate (12 g) and roasted-chickpea flour (10 g). Bars were prepared for Pakistani-athletes based on their calories and protein requirement (3500-3925 kcals/day, 1.4-1.8 g/kg body weight). Efficacy trials were performed (1, 15 and 30 days) to evaluate the effect of nutri-bars on blood serum profile, stamina building and body-composition. Results showed that hepatic-indexes such as alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were decreased (p > 0.05) during experimental-period. At day 30, ALT (6.8%), AST (1%) and ALP (0.4%) indicates the inhibitory effect of nutri-bar on the pathological serum-profile of athletes while significant increase (p > 0.05) was observed in total-protein (0.52%). Liver injury-indexes lactate dehydrogenase, Creatine kinase, total-cholesterol and total-glycerides showed a significant increase (p > 0.05) while low-density-lipoprotein and high-density-lipoprotein were decreased (p > 0.05). Effect of nutri-bar on body composition showed increase (p > 0.05) in body weight (kg) and body-mass index (BMI (kg/m²). In the twelve-minutes running test, distance covered by athletes (p < 0.05) increased after 30 days as compared to day 1. The study revealed the significant (p < 0.05) effect of nutri-bar in developing the stamina building of Pakistani-athletes while the effect on the blood-serum profile was non-significant.

Keywords:
nutri-bars; athlete; fitness; whey protein isolate; hepatic-indexes; body composition