Did you know C60 fullerene could work as a sort of your personal therapy easing muscle fatigue? And it does not finish yet - it can also prevent skeletal muscle soreness! Let’ s take a close look at Fullerene's amazing journey from lab experiments to food supplements for athletes!
All Because of the Buckminsterfullerene’s Structure
For the way the atoms are bound together, this most common fullerene can easily interact with free radicals. They can bond with up to six electrons, which makes them even 125x more powerful antioxidants than vitamin C! Oxidative stress not only plays a major role in aging and cancer or neurodegenerative diseases. It is known that the application of natural antioxidants stands behind a remarkable fatigue reduction of muscle caused by intense physical activity. This premise was a starting point for a groundbreaking research focused on this particular feature. Can C60 reduce muscle fatigue and fasten the recovery as many natural antioxidants? The results of in vitro and in vivo laboratory tests said YES!
How Does It Work? What Did the Experiments Prove?
First, let us explain what happens during muscle fatigue. One of its symptoms are incomplete metabolic processes involving oxygen that produce free radicals and other oxygen based substances. Those are responsible for so called oxidative stress which could lead to cell damages. Team of scientists led by Yurij I. Prylutskyy examined the ability of water-soluble C60 to correct the level of oxidative stress in tricep muscle of anaesthetized rats. They used electrical stimulation to simulate conditions during and after intense physical activity. And they came up with more than promising results!
1. Increase of endurance
The data have shown the application of fullerenes even at tiny doses caused an increase of the actual endurance. The rats were capable of longer-lasting muscle activity before the fatigue effects appeared.
2. Higher levels of strength
It was observed the muscles kept a higher level of strength for a longer period before becoming tired or exhausted. The difference of strength decrease in C60-treated rats and untreated ones was basically halved!
3. Fast recovery
The time necessary to recover after the stimulation stopped was much shorter. This confirmed that C60 fullerene could be responsible for the pro-oxidant-antioxidant balance normalization in the muscle tissue.
From lab to the real life
No surprise lots of food supplements producers took the chance! Nowadays you can easily find health supplies containing buckyballs! Most commonly are sold as drops where C60 is dissolved into olive, coconut or avocado oil. They promise a pretty wide spectrum of effects, but what might interest for sport addicts and people who are dealing with intense physical activity daily is the ability of easing muscular soreness, weakness and painful sensations they often experience. Muscle exhaustion can also stand at the beginning of long-term health issues. Fullerenes with their anti-inflammatory features are believed to be helpful in this aspect as well.
What works in theory and during lab experiments doesn't have to meet and fulfill our expectations in real life? The fact is we still miss serious research in this area that would prove the mechanism is valid also for human beings. Would you like to try on your own?
Do you have any experience with any C60 supplements? Would you participate in research conducted on humans?