L-menthol administration facilitates breathing comfort during exhaustive endurance running and improves running capacity in well-trained runners: A randomized crossover study

Abstract

This study aimed to clarify the contribution of L-menthol administration to endurande exercise capacity. Thirteen male runners (age, 35.8 ± 7.8 years; peak oxygen uptake, 62.7 ± 6.8 mL kg−1 min−1) ran on treadmills at fixed intensities of their anaerobic thresholds to exhaustion. All participants underwent three trials—water ingestion (W-IG), L-menthol mouth rinsing (M-MR), and L-menthol ingestion (M-IG)— in a random order every 5 min while running. Breathing comfort (BC) was measured immediately after fluid intake. Dyspnea threshold against external inspiratory resistance was examined before and after the running test. The running time with M-IG (1683.9 ± 520.3 s) was longer than that with W-IG (1410.2 ± 465.9 s, effect size [ES] = 0.55). BC with M-IG (2.00 ± 0.74) was higher than that with W-IG (0.42 ± 0.79) at exhaustion (ES > 2.00). The dyspnea threshold after running decreased to 19.2 ± 7.6 cm H₂O L−1 s−1 with W-IG, whereas that with M-MR (26.2 ± 6.5 cm H₂O L−1 s−1) and M-IG (29.2 ± 2.8 cm H₂O L−1 s−1) remained high (p for interaction < 0.001). M-IG facilitated BC during running, improved endurance capacity, and prevented decreases in the dyspnea threshold against external inspiratory resistance after exhaustive running. Highlights L-menthol ingestion facilitated breathing comfort during high intensity endurance running and improved exhaustive endurance running capacity. Even after exhaustion, L-menthol solution relieved dyspnea sensitivity against external inspiratory resistance. L-menthol ingestion might help athletes improve their endurance running capacity.