Metabolomics in sports research
NMR technology has developed a great deal in recent years. Director Karlsson underscores the importance of disseminating information about what can be done with NMR technology, which can be used within a number of new fields. One example is sports science.
In her case the blood comes from elite athletes involved in endurance sports, and the purpose has been to see how this can foster the burning of fat. “This is the first time NMR has been used for sports research,” she says, “and we have had excellent collaboration and exchanges with one another.”
THE RESULT, WHICH HAS JUST been published, shows that burning of fat was not as high after fasting as after a previous exercise period, despite the fact that fasting is used by many today as a method of weight reduction. But she emphasizes that the results apply to top athletes engaged in endurance sports who need to develop their fat oxidation to be able to burn fat over long periods, and that is a major difference between them and other people.
“It has been interesting from a public health perspective to see if regular people also can develop fat oxidation — in case of disruptions in metabolism, for example,” says Hall, who sees great development potential in science through use of the NMR Centre in the future.
Text & Photo: Camilla Persson
This interview is en excerpt from a longer article about the Swedish NMR Centre published in Science Faculty Magazine No 1 2016.
Reference: Andersson-Hall U, Pettersson S, Edin F, Pedersen A, Malmodin D, Madsen K. Metabolism and whole-body fat oxidation following postexercise carbohydrate or protein intake. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 2018, 28, doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2017-0129