I’m curious if people who are serious about exercise/training try to time their intake of polyphenol-rich foods to prevent hindering exercise adaptaions, especially long-term exercise adaptations (strength, muscle hypertrophy, Vo2Max, mitochondrial function, etc) by inhibiting the rise of things Il-6 for example?
I personally like to have a smoothie with whey protein in the morning and then exercise right after. Many of the foods I like to put their have all kinds of healthy compounds, including polyphenols, but I worry that I might be hindering exercise adaptations even though polyphenols act differently from direct antioxidants, like vitamin C and E (which have been shown to to hinder exercise adaptations, especially at large doses).
Specifically I wonder about:
- Blueberries (Proanthocyanidins, Pterostilbene, Myricetin, Maldivin, etc)
- Mango (beta carotene)
- Broccoli (sulforaphane, etc)
- Cacao (gallic acid, epicatechin, quercetin, and PQQ(?))
- Parsley (apigenin, PQQ)
- Sage (rosmarinic acid, ursolic acid, carnosic acid, gallic acid, and some luteolin)
- Turmeric (curcumin)
Based on my research green tea (EGCG) seems fine and cacao seems like it might lower exercise adaptations (or not), but it’s not clear. The situation is even less clear when it comes to the list above.
If you looked closer into this, could you please share your thoughts? E.g., do you try to time such foods after exercise? If so, how much later? Or do you think I’m overthinking this?
Thank you!