Abstract
Objective: To carry out a systematic review on the effects of vitamin C and E supplementation on physical activity practitioners, whether amateur or professional. Methods: The bibliographic search was carried out in the databases, PubMed and Scielo, and in the Virtual Health Library, using the descriptors in health "vitamin C", "vitamin E", "antioxidant" and "physical activity", combined between as well as their corresponding terms in English. We selected 8 articles that dealt with experimental research. Results: Vitamin C and E supplementation has been shown to reduce lipid peroxidation, muscle damage, inflammatory response and hemolysis, and improve exercise-induced asthma. On the other hand, positive effects were not perceived on insulin sensitivity, performance parameters and adaptation to endurance exercise. Final considerations: Intake of antioxidants may inhibit the adaptive response from the physiological elevation of reactive oxygen species due to physical exercise, this may be beneficial or not. Supplementation with the aim of improving performance and resistance to exercise did not find grounds for this sample, but future analyzes should be carried out.