Body Temperature Changes, Body Water Dehydration, Inflammation
Conditions
Brief summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to compare betaine supplementation to placebo in firefighters undergoing live burn training regarding thermoregulation and inflammation. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does betaine supplementation mitigate rises in core temperature during firefighter live burn training? * Does betaine supplementation decrease inflammation from firefighter training? * Does betaine supplementation increase total body water stores? Participants will supplement with betaine for 1 month and complete: * Total Body Water measures * Body Composition measures * Live Burn training with Core Temperature Measurements * Provide Salivary samples
Interventions
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTBetaine
3 grams per day for \ 4 weeks
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTPlacebo
3 grams per day for \ 4 weeks
Sponsors
Michael J. Ormsbee
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
QUADRUPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Structural Firefighter
Exclusion criteria
* • Participants have a cardiometabolic disease for which they take prescribed medications * Participants consume supplements known to impact hydration status or performance that they are not willing to stop taking for the study * Participants are pregnant * Female participants that have irregular menstrual cycles * Participants are injured and would not be able to fulfill the live burn scenario * Participants have sickle cell disease * Participants have experienced heat stroke within the last 2 years
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Subjective measures | immediately before and immediately after the completion of the live burn | Visual analog scales will be given to participants for subjective thermal sensation, rate of perceived exertion, and thirst |
| Sweat Rate | immediately before and immediately after the completion of the live burn | Changes in body weight in kg will be used to find loss of sweat in L |
| Thermoregulation | 10 minutes before the live burn, during the ~15 minute live burn, 10, 20, and 30 minutes after the live burn. | Core temperature (Degrees C), skin temperature (Degrees C) |
| Sweat Content | immediately before and immediately after the completion of the live burn | Tegaderm patches will be worn during the live burn to analyze sodium concentration in sweat. |
| Stress (enzyme linked immunoassays) | before, immediately after, 10 minutes, and 20 minutes after live burn | Salivary expression of Testosterone, Cortisol, interleukin-8, and interleukin 6 will be measured. |
| Stress (respiration efficiency) | immediately before and immediately after the completion of the live burn | Air tank pounds per square inch (PSI) will be recorded |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Chronic Stress (vitals) professional firefighters. | Before supplementation and after 4 weeks of supplementation | Resting blood pressure in mmHg and heart rate in beats per minute will be measured. |
| Fluid Compartment Volumes (Bioelectrical Impedance Spectrocopy) professional firefighters. | Before supplementation and after 4 weeks of supplementation | Intracellular fluid volume (L), extracellular fluid volume (L), plasma volume (L), total body water (L) |
| Chronic Stress (enzyme linked immunoassays) | Before supplementation and after 4 weeks of supplementation | Saliva will be analyzed for testosterone, cortisol, uric acid, and c-reactive protein |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed