Cola nitida and estrogen, a predominant hormone of the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle have been documented to have some cardiovascular effects. Although at normal resting state, cardiovascular effects such as changes in heart rate may not obvious. This study is therefore aimed at assessing post-exercise heart rate adjustment time in subjects who ingested Cola nitida during the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. Sixty-four healthy volunteers with 32 subjects in the follicular phase and 32 subjects in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle were studied. The thirty two subjects in each phase were further sub-divided into 4 subgroups with 8 subjects each group. The first groups of subjects were not given cola nitida while the remaining groups of subjects were given 100mg/kg, 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg of Cola nitida respectively. All subjects had their serum estrogen concentrations and base line heart rates assessed using standard methods before administering Cola nitida. 90 minutes post ingestion of Cola nitida, subjects were exposed to exercise for 35 minutes. The heart rates of subjects in sitting position were recorded every minute until they returned to baseline values. Results were presented as mean ± SD, p < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Overall the percentage of subjects that experienced tachycardia was more in the luteal phase compared to follicular phase, although it was not statistically significant (p > 0.05) and the dose of Cola nitida ingested was observed to be inversely proportional to the heart rate adjustment time.
Keywords: Cola Nitida, Exercise, Follicular, Heart Rate, Luteal, Menstrual Cycle
