The effect of an ovalbumin protein hydrolysate on muscle strength recovery in athletes

Overtraining is a real problem for (semi-)professional athletes. Overtraining
is often caused by the bodies* lack of ability to recover between training. In
addition, during high intensity training reactive oxygen species are formed up
to 20 fold compared to resting values. This causes increased muscle tissue
damage after intense exercise, which slows down recovery. Improving recovery
may increase an athlete*s ability to reach higher training volumes resulting in
establishing a higher performance plateau.
Ovalbumin is a hydrolyzed protein derived from egg-white. Ovalbumin hydrolysate
has known anti-oxidant capabilities. It is known that hydrolyzed proteins have
a positive effect on muscle protein synthesis due to its faster absorption
rate. Therefore, we hypothesize that ovalbumin hydrolysate may have positive
effects on strength recovery due to its smaller bioactive peptides and
anti-oxidative capabilities.

To determine the dose-dependent effect of daily ovalbumin protein hydrolysate
administration between two experimental groups compared to placebo over a 4
week period on strength recovery post high intensity resistance exercise in
(semi-) professional athletes.

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study with parallel design.

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the intervention groups. Two
groups will receive a daily dose of ovalbumin hydrolysate of either 5 or 10
grams dsitributed over two servings. The final group will receive identical
looking placebo for a period of 4 weeks. The study product will be supplied in
plastic jars and has to be dissolved in a glass of 200mL orange juice.

Individually, participants will receive no benefits by participating in the
study. The study consists of four squat tests spread out over two days. The
total duration of one test day, including the exercise tests, will not last for
more than 1.5 hours, consisting of two visits of 45 minutes each. Participants
will be informed to not change their dietary intake. High intensity resistance
training of the legs should be avoided for at least 24 hours prior to testing
days.
The hydrolyzed egg white protein has safely been used in clinical trials before
(own research), thus we expect no adverse reactions. By means of screening,
only healthy subjects are included in the study, which further reduces the risk
of adverse effects. Following the inclusion procedure, participants should
comply with the protocol. Between test 1 and 2 participants are instructed to
consume 10 gram of product, containing hydrolyzed egg white protein, placebo or
a combination, per day for a period of 4 weeks. In addition to the squat
exercises, participants should complete a delayed onset muscle soreness score
assessment after each visit for 48 hours. During exercise a displacement sensor
will be connected to the barbell to evaluate the peak force and anaerobic
capacity, for which no further actions need to be taken by the participants.
Finally a finger prick is taken at 5 minutes after both the exhaustion and
recovery challenge to assess blood lactate after exercise. Over the whole
study, which contains only a minor invasive procedure, the total load may be
rated *low* given that participants should only perform four exercise bouts on
two different days. Altogether, these measurements and procedures will be
within the manageable load for participants of this study.