Risk Assessment of Ironman Triathlon Participant

Physical activity, especially endurance exercise performed at moderate intensities, exerts a number of beneficial effects. However, there is an apparent paradox regarding the risks of exercise-induced oxidative and genomic stress. Increasing evidence indicates that extraordinary prolonged, intense or unaccustomed physical exercise increases the generation of free radicals and other reactive oxygen species. The hypothesized exercise-induced imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants has been linked to muscular fatigue and damage, inflammatory and other systemic stress responses elicited by vigorous exercise (similar to the acute-phase-immune response) and decreased physical performance/regeneration up to muscular overtraining symptoms. Furthermore, the current understanding of this topic provides little information whether exercise-induced formation of free radicals can result in potent harmful effects that might offset the beneficial outcomes imparted by physical training. Moreover, the interaction and influence of environmental factors and lifestyle, including exercise, on the genome, pose without a doubt future challenges not only in exercise and nutritional sciences. Currently, there are no data on long-distance triathlons and genomic stability. Does an (ultra-) endurance exercise induce DNA damage, as this is well known after surgeries, shocks, burns or other serious body impairments? And if yes, how long do the bodys repair and regeneration mechanisms need to counteract this stress reaction? Research on this topic is of particular importance in terms of a risk assessment, since there is an further increasing interest in physical activity including more extreme challenges in sports such as marathon and triathlon events (e.g. documented by the rapidly growing number of participants in the Ironman Austria - from 124 in 1998 to more than 2000 in 2004). However, comprehensive data on long-distance triathlons as a more and more popular type of endurance exercise with new sophisticated biomarkers are missing. Beyond, due the potential involvement of oxidative and genomic stress such as in the pathologies of arteriosclerosis or cancer and age-related processes, research in this field will be of high value for the exploration of certain degenerative diseases states as well as aging. Concerning exercise physiology and biochemistry als well as biomedical research in general, Ironman triathletes provide a unique model for studying the response of physiologocal regulatory mechanims to stress. For all these reasons, the purpose of our research work is to investigate the effects of an Ironman triathlon (3,8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42 km run) on genomic stability, antioxidant related factors, highly sophisticated markers of oxidative stress/damage as well as on parameters of muscular and inflammatory stress responses and signal transduction that are associated with an oxidant-/antioxidant-imbalance.

Physical activity, especially endurance exercise performed at moderate intensities, exerts a number of beneficial effects. However, there is an apparent paradox regarding the risks of exercise-induced oxidative and genomic stress. Increasing evidence indicates that extraordinary prolonged, intense or unaccustomed physical exercise increases the generation of free radicals and other reactive oxygen species. The hypothesized exercise-induced imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants has been linked to muscular fatigue and damage, inflammatory and other systemic stress responses elicited by vigorous exercise (similar to the acute-phase-immune response) and decreased physical performance/regeneration up to muscular overtraining symptoms. Furthermore, the current understanding of this topic provides little information whether exercise-induced formation of free radicals can result in potent harmful effects that might offset the beneficial outcomes imparted by physical training. Moreover, the interaction and influence of environmental factors and lifestyle, including exercise, on the genome, pose without a doubt future challenges not only in exercise and nutritional sciences. Currently, there are no data on long- distance triathlons and genomic stability. Does an (ultra-) endurance exercise induce DNA damage, as this is well known after surgeries, shocks, burns or other serious body impairments? And if yes, how long do the body`s repair and regeneration mechanisms need to counteract this stress reaction? Research on this topic is of particular importance in terms of a risk assessment, since there is an further increasing interest in physical activity including more extreme challenges in sports such as marathon and triathlon events (e.g. documented by the rapidly growing number of participants in the Ironman Austria - from 124 in 1998 to more than 2000 in 2004). However, comprehensive data on long-distance triathlons as a more and more popular type of endurance exercise with new sophisticated biomarkers are missing. Beyond, due the potential involvement of oxidative and genomic stress such as in the pathologies of arteriosclerosis or cancer and age-related processes, research in this field will be of high value for the exploration of certain degenerative diseases states as well as aging. Concerning exercise physiology and biochemistry als well as biomedical research in general, Ironman triathletes provide a unique model for studying the response of physiologocal regulatory mechanims to stress. For all these reasons, the purpose of our research work is to investigate the effects of an Ironman triathlon (3,8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42 km run) on genomic stability, antioxidant related factors, highly sophisticated markers of oxidative stress/damage as well as on parameters of muscular and inflammatory stress responses and signal transduction that are associated with an oxidant-/antioxidant-imbalance.