Combating Brain Damage in Fighters

One major issue in contact sports, especially in combat sports, is the potential for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Around 10-20% of Professional Boxers have verifiable brain damage, and many more Professional and Amateur fighters would expand this percentage, however, they often go undiagnosed.

If you are involved in combat sports, or you work with combative athletes, you can safely assume that as your/ their career progresses, so will the degree of brain damage. This would also be relevant for contact sportspeople such as Rugby players etc.

A study came out last year that may help to protect ourselves if involved in the aforementioned sports.

The study looked at the effect of Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) on the presence of Beta-Amyloid Precursor Protein (a marker of nerve cell damage) after an impact acceleration injury, similar to what would occur in combat sports.

The researchers used two dosing schedules of either 10mg/kg/day, or 40/mg/day of DHA for 30 days following a traumatic impact event. The 10mg/kg/day group developed 82% less damage than the un-supplemented group. The 40mg/kg/day group fared even better and reduced their level of damage by 87%.

DHA is one of the main fatty acids in fish oil (Omega 3), usually present in the amount of 120mg per 1000mg of total oil. So for a 75kg individual to replicate the schedule, they would need to take 6 x 1000mg (6 grams) Omega 3 per day. To replicate the higher dosing would require 25 x 1000mg (25 grams) Omega 3 per day.

For many reasons, this level of supplementation should be a mainstay in your diet. But for people involved in combat sports, it could be a real godsend.

Reference:

Bailes JE, Mills JD. Docosahexaenoic acid reduces traumatic axonal injury in a rodent head injury model. J Neurotrauma. 2010 Sep;27(9):1617-24.