Sulfur status in long distance runners

In sports medicine, sulfur plays an important role and its deficiency can cause muscle injury affecting the performance of the athletes. However, its evaluation is unusual in conventional clinical practice. In this study the sulfur levels were determined in Brazilian amateur athlete's blood using Neutron Activation Analyses (NAA) technique. Twenty six male amateur runners, age 18 to 36 years, participated of this study. The athletes had a balanced diet, without multivitamin/mineral supplements. The blood collection was performed at LABEX (Laboratorio de Bioquimica do Exercicio, UNICAMP-SP) and the samples were irradiated for 300 seconds in a pneumatic station in the nuclear reactor (IEA-R1, 3-4.5MW, pool type) at IPEN/CNEN-SP. The results were compared with the control group (subjects of same age but not involved with physical activities) and showed that the sulfur concentration was 44% higher in amateurs athletes than control group. These data can be considered for preparation of balanced diet, as well as contributing for proposing new protocols of clinical evaluation.