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| REVIEW ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2013 | Volume
: 13
| Issue : 1 | Page : 3-4 |
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Ramadan fast and sports
Abdel Galil M Abdel Gader
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine and King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| Date of Web Publication | 28-May-2013 |
Correspondence Address:
Abdel Galil M Abdel Gader
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine and King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh
Saudi Arabia
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/1319-6308.112203
How to cite this article:
Abdel Gader AM. Ramadan fast and sports. Saudi J Sports Med 2013;13:3-4 |
| Introduction | |  |
During Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset. In recent years, the effect of such abstention has only been of academic interest to the researchers concerned with fluid and electrolyte balance, particularly when Ramadan falls during the hot summer months. [1] However, two issues emerged that put the Ramadan fast in the forefront of physiological factors influencing the engagement of an individual in physical exercise.
One issue relates to the wide public interest in sports for the maintenance of physical fitness and health and recreation and to what extent does the Ramadan fast affect the rate and frequency of such physical activity. The other issue is the participation of Muslim countries in international competitive sports, particularly the Olympics; this issue has become a concern to the top sports organizing body, The International Olympic Committee (IOC). [2]
This raises the burning question of whether a fasting athlete could compete fairly with non-Muslims who are not fasting, either in individual sport events such as tennis or squash or fencing, or in group sports such as soccer, basketball, volley ball, etc.
The Ramadan fast has triggered numerous researchers to find out to what extent does abstention from food and fluid intake as well as timing of meals affect the performance of athletes in competitive sports? This question emerged prominently during the recent Olympic Games that took place in London in the summer of 2012 during Ramadan and with significant participation from Muslim fasting athletes. Thus, the issue of the Ramadan fast and engagement in competitive sports has become a real concern to those engaged in sports, whether athletes, trainers, or administrators of sport bodies.
Physiological effects of the Ramadan fast
Despite the alteration in the timing of meals during Ramadan, there is general agreement that an ordinary non-sporting person ingests enough food to cover his daily energy needs with no change in the blood levels of the energy substrates, glucose, and fats, or significant weight loss. [3],[4],[5],[6],[7]
As for body weight, wide disagreements feature in the literature and this could be related to the study design, particularly the selection of subjects and the diet consumed. While some studies found a drop in body weight in sedentary subjects as a result of reduction in food (energy) intake during Ramadan, [8],[9] others using both sedentary and active subjects whose energy needs exceeded their normal requirements and surprisingly individuals finished the month of Ramadan with increase in body weight. [10] As theoretically anticipated, this finding should not be the case after a whole month of intermittent abstention from food and drink. [4],[5],[6],[11],[12]
Ramadan fact and physical activity
Studies on the physiological responses of fasting individual to physical activity also reported divergent findings. Most studies found no significant in VO2 max, despite slowing of metabolism, particularly during the day, in order to conserve energy. [9],[13],[14] Yet again, in these studies, the selection of subjects varied from sedentary subjects [9] to elite athletes [14] and the type of exercise also varied from treadmill walking [9] to squat jump, countermovement jump, 30-sec repeated jump, 30-min sprint, to multistage fitness test. [14]
In a cross-over study of 10 moderately trained active athletes tested by 60 min run on the treadmill in fasting state in Ramadan and also in the non-fasting state, Aziz et al. concluded that Ramadan fasting has a small, yet significant negative impact on endurance running performance, although the impact varies across the individuals. [15]
On the assumption that energy and fluid intake is restricted during daytime in Ramadan, there is a tendency to reduce the training load even for elite athletes before the major competitions. However, a recent study found that experienced elite Muslim athletes are able to maintain their usual training load during Ramadan without any effect on their fitness. [16]
The findings of Sweileh et al. [9] of a significant decrease in VO 2 max in the first week of Ramadan with a return to the pre-test levels in the last week, as well as the findings of the other researchers cited above and who did not find significant effect of the Ramadan fast on performance are of interest to the exercise physiologists and nutritionists who design and prescribe special diet and fluids to be consumed, before, during, and after exercise to guarantee the best performance of athletes, especially those engaged in competitive sports.
The effect of Ramadan on performance
In contrast, another study assessing whether Ramadan intermittent fasting (RIF) affected 5000 m running performance and the physiological parameters classically associated with middle-distance performance found that by the end of Ramadan, there was decrease in maximum ventilator capacity (MVC), but there was no effect on the running efficiency or maximal aerobic power. Similarly, significant decrease in athletic performance capacities was also noted in soccer players; [12] this study was performed in young 14-16-year-old soccer players tested before and in the last week of Ramadan. The findings indicate that Ramadan fasting can lead to a significant decrease in athletic performance capacities. The decrease in performance does not necessarily relate to changes in caloric intake and sleeping hours during the fast. In agreement with this finding, two reports on football training in the third week of Ramadan in young players observing Ramadan fast indicate that it had little effect on the objective tests of physical performance (sprint, leg power, agility, aerobic endurance, football-specific skills). [17],[18]
Taken together, despite the wide disagreements, the findings of the studies on the effect of the Ramadan fast on physical performance indicate that the ability of the body physiological systems to adapt has no limits. Adaptation to the changes that occur during Ramadan, particularly in response to the change in the timing of meals, a possible change in food constituents, lengthy, whole day deprivation of fluid intake, and the adjustment in the biological clock, indicates that the ability of the human body to adapt to all these factors and "get along with the job" sees no limits. This could be added to the diverge and well-studied physiological adaptation to cold, heat, high altitude, change in time zones, etc., when athletes are required to participate in competitive sports, particularly international tournaments.
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