Metabolic recovery from heavy exertion following banana compared to sugar beverage or water only ingestion: A randomized, crossover trial

Objectives and methods: Using a randomized, crossover, counterbalanced approach, cyclists (N = 20, overnight fasted state) engaged in the four 75-km time trials (2-week washout) while ingesting two types of bananas with similar carbohydrate (CHO) but different phenolic content (Cavendish, CAV; mini-yellow, MIY, 63% higher polyphenols), a 6% sugar beverage (SUG), and water only (WAT). CHO intake was set at 0.2 g/kg every 15 minutes. Blood samples were collected pre-exercise and 0 h-, 0.75 h-,1.5 h-, 3 h-, 4.5 h-, 21 h-, 45 h-post-exercise. Results: Each of the CHO trials (CAV, MIY, SUG) compared to water was associated with higher post-exercise plasma glucose and fructose, and lower leukocyte counts, plasma 9+13 HODES, and IL-6, IL-10, and IL-1ra. OPLS-DA analysis showed that metabolic perturbation (N = 1,605 metabolites) for WAT (86.8±4.0 arbitrary units) was significantly greater and sustained than for CAV (70.4±3.9, P = 0.006), MIY (68.3±4.0, P = 0.002), and SUG (68.1±4.2, P = 0.002). VIP ranking (<3.0, N = 25 metabolites) showed that both CAV and MIY were associated with significant fold changes in metabolites including those from amino acid and xenobiotics pathways. OPLS-DA analysis of immediate post-exercise metabolite shifts showed a significant separation of CAV and MIY from both WAT and SUG (R2Y = 0.848, Q2Y = 0.409). COX-2 mRNA expression was lower in both CAV and MIY, but not SUG, versus WAT at 21-h post-exercise in THP-1 monocytes cultured in plasma samples. Analysis of immediate post-exercise samples showed a decrease in LPS-stimulated THP-1 monocyte extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) in CAV and MIY, but not SUG, compared to WAT. Conclusions: CHO ingestion from bananas or a sugar beverage had a comparable influence in attenuating metabolic perturbation and inflammation following 75-km cycling. Ex-vivo analysis with THP-1 monocytes supported a decrease in COX-2 mRNA expression and reduced reliance on glycolysis for ATP production following ingestion of bananas but not sugar water when compared to water alone. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, U.S. National Institutes of Health, identifier: NCT02994628.