Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
ISSN: 1303 - 2968   
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©Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2008) 07, 565 - 565

Letter to editor
The Best Athletes in Ancient Rome were Vegetarian!
Umile Giuseppe Longo1, Filippo Spiezia1, Nicola Maffulli2 , Vincenzo Denaro1  
Author Information
1 Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Campus Biomedico University, Rome, Italy
2 Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Keele University School of Medicine, Hartshill, UK

Nicola Maffulli
✉ Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Keele University Medical School, Store On Trent, England.
Email: n.maffulli@keele.ac.uk
Publish Date
Received: 28-10-2008
Accepted: 30-10-2008
Published (online): 01-12-2008
 

Dear Editor-in-chief

The figure of gladiators recalls the ideas of strength, hard training, endurance, and deadly efficiency: a perfect fighting machine. Historically, a gladiator was a sort of sport hero, and gladiator's medicine probably one of the first forms of organised sports medicine. Statues and paintings of the ancient roman period tell us of this astonishing world of fighters.

There are traces of famous gladiators all over the known world at Roman times, resembling our Mohammad Ali or Mike Tyson. Most of them grew up in fighting schools, the most famous in Capua, near Naples in Italy: Spartacus, the rebel gladiator who inflicted a severe defeat to Roman army, came from there. Gladiators had to endure long session of training to fight in the arena.

Considering the modern diets of strength athletes, we should expect that gladiators had a high protein diet. However, analysis of their bones has put forward the hypothesis that gladiators were vegetarian athletes: in his accounts of Rome, the ancient historian Plinius refers to gladiators as “hordearii ”(barley-eaters) (Eichholz et al., 1938).

Plants contain higher levels of strontium than animal tissues. People who consume more plants and less meat will build up measurably higher levels of strontium in their bones. Levels of strontium in the gladiators' bones were two times as high than the bones of contemporary Ephesians (Kanz and Grossschmidt, 2007).

Roman army troopers, the “legionnaires”, had daily expenditure of energy that can be estimated at around 5000 kcal for the legionnaire performing engineer work and at 6000 kcal for the legionnaire in war action. At present, only workmen and sportsmen reach such levels of energy expenditure (Fornaris and Aubert, 1998). Legionnaires were able to endure long war campaignes and endless “magnis itineribus ”(forced marches) with incredible resistance to fatigue.

The legionnaire's daily ration consisted of 78% carbohydrates, mainly from wheat or barley. This diet has the advantages to provide slowly absorbed carbohydrates, to be provide high energy, and to be easily digestible. It provided good intestinal ballast, and was able to restore the energy reserves of the organism (Fornaris and Aubert, 1998; Lemon et al., 1992). The best fighters in the ancient world were essentially vegetarian.

Protein requirements for strength-trained or training athletes are elevated above those of sedentary individuals (Lemon et al., 1992). However, the Institute of Medicine concluded that the evidence for increased requirements for physically active individuals was not compelling, and suggested that the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of 0.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day was appropriate for healthy adults undertaking resistance or endurance exercise (Washington, 2002). The question of whether vegetarianism is associated with beneficial or detrimental effects on athletic performance has also been considered (Nieman, 1988, 1999). Observational studies of vegetarian and non-vegetarian athletes (Hanne et al., 1986) have found no differences in performance or fitness associated with the amount of animal protein consumed. Short-term interventional studies in which subjects consumed vegetarian or non-vegetarian diets for test periods (ranging from 2 to 6 wk) also detected no difference in performance parameters based on the presence or absence of foods derived from animal tissues (Nieman, 1988). In line with these findings, previous reviews of the scientific literature have concluded that a well-planned and varied vegetarian diet can meet the needs of athletes, as it was for Roman gladiators or legionnaires.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Umile Giuseppe Longo
Employment: Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Keele University School of Medicine
Degree:
Research interests:
E-mail:
 

Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Filippo Spiezia
Employment: Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Keele University School of Medicine
Degree:
Research interests:
E-mail:
 

Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Nicola Maffulli
Employment: Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Keele University School of Medicine
Degree:
Research interests:
E-mail: n.maffulli@keele.ac.uk
 

Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Vincenzo Denaro
Employment: Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Keele University School of Medicine
Degree:
Research interests:
E-mail:
 
REFERENCES
Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Eichholz D. E., Jones W.H.S., Rackham H. (1938) Complete collection in ten volumes (The Loeb Classical Library) by Gaius Plinius Secundus Pliny the Elder: Pliny. Natural History , -.
Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Fornaris E., Aubert M. (1998) The Roman legionnaire, the misunderstood athlete.. Histoire des Sciences Médicales 332, 161-168.
Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Hanne N., Dlin R., Rotstein A. (1986) Physical fitness, anthropometric and metabolic parameters in vegetarian athletes.. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 226, 180-185.
Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Kanz F., Grossschmidt K. (2007) Roman Gladiators - The osseous evidence. Presented at Seventy-Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, March , 28-31.
Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Lemon P.W., Tarnopolsky M.A., MacDougall J.D., Atkinson S. A. (1992) Protein requirements and muscle mass/strength changes during intensive training in novice bodybuilders.. Journal of Applied Physiology 773, 767-75.
Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Nieman D.C. (1988) Vegetarian dietary practices and endurance performance.. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 48, 754-761.
Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Nieman D.C. (1999) Physical fitness and vegetarian diets: is there a relation?.. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 770, 570S-575S.
Journal of Sports Science and Medicine Washington, D.C (2002) Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. Dietary reference intakes for energy, carbohydrate, fiber, fat, fatty acids, cholesterol, protein, and amino acids. National Academy Press.
 
 
 
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