Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 May;26(5):507-17.
doi: 10.1111/sms.12485. Epub 2015 Apr 27.

Rapid body mass loss affects erythropoiesis and hemolysis but does not impair aerobic performance in combat athletes

D Reljic  1   2 , J Feist  1 , J Jost  2 , M Kieser  3 , B Friedmann-Bette  1
Affiliations

Rapid body mass loss affects erythropoiesis and hemolysis but does not impair aerobic performance in combat athletes

D Reljic et al. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2016 May.

Abstract

Rapid body mass loss (RBML) before competition was found to decrease hemoglobin mass (Hbmass ) in elite boxers. This study aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of this observation. Fourteen well-trained combat athletes who reduced body mass before competitions (weight loss group, WLG) and 14 combat athletes who did not practice RBML (control group, CON) were tested during an ordinary training period (t-1), 1-2 days before an official competition (after 5-7 days RBML in WLG, t-2), and after a post-competition period (t-3). In WLG, body mass (-5.5%, range: 2.9-6.8 kg) and Hbmass (-4.1%) were significantly (P < 0.001) reduced after RBML and were still decreased by 1.6% (P < 0.05) and 2.6% (P < 0.001) at t-3 compared with t-1. After RBML, erythropoietin, reticulocytes, haptoglobin, triiodothyronine (FT3 ), and free androgen index (FAI) were decreased compared with t-1 and t-3. An increase occurred in ferritin and bilirubin. Peak treadmill-running performance and VO2peak did not change significantly, but performance at 4-mmol lactate threshold was higher after RBML (P < 0.05). In CON, no significant changes were found in any parameter. Apparently, the significant decrease in Hbmass after RBML in combat athletes was caused by impaired erythropoiesis and increased hemolysis without significant impact on aerobic performance capacity.

Keywords: Combat sports; dehydration; erythropoietin; hemoglobin mass; red blood cell destruction; weight cutting.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

MeSH terms