Tocotrienols and Whey Protein Isolates Substantially Increase Exercise Endurance Capacity in Diet -Induced Obese Male Sprague-Dawley Rats

Background and Aims Obesity and impairments in metabolic health are associated with reductions in exercise capacity. Both whey protein isolates (WPIs) and vitamin E tocotrienols (TCTs) exert favorable effects on obesity-related metabolic parameters. This research sought to determine whether these supplements improved exercise capacity and increased glucose tolerance in diet-induced obese rats. Methods Six week old male rats (n = 35) weighing 187 ± 32g were allocated to either: Control (n = 9), TCT (n = 9), WPI (n = 8) or TCT + WPI (n = 9) and placed on a high-fat diet (40% of energy from fat) for 10 weeks. Animals received 50mg/kg body weight and 8% of total energy intake per day of TCTs and/or WPIs respectively. Food intake, body composition, glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, exercise capacity, skeletal muscle glycogen content and oxidative enzyme activity were determined. Results Both TCT and WPI groups ran >50% longer (2271 ± 185m and 2195 ± 265m respectively) than the Control group (1428 ± 139m) during the run to exhaustion test (P<0.05), TCT + WPI did not further improve exercise endurance (2068 ± 104m). WPIs increased the maximum in vitro activity of beta-hydroxyacyl-CoA in the soleus muscle (P<0.05 vs. Control) but not in the plantaris. Citrate synthase activity was not different between groups. Neither supplement had any effect on weight gain, adiposity, glucose tolerance or insulin sensitivity. Conclusion Ten weeks of both TCTs and WPIs increased exercise endurance by 50% in sedentary, diet-induced obese rats. These positive effects of TCTs and WPIs were independent of body weight, adiposity or glucose tolerance.