Sports Nutrition & Supplements
33 items
Gut microbiome and functional adaptations to paleo and rational diets in professional athletes: a pilot study
Ten professional male handball players were randomly assigned to eat either a Paleo diet or a conventional ("rational") diet of equal calories for 8 weeks, with stool samples analyzed at the start, 4 weeks and 8 weeks to track gut bacteria. Neither diet substantially changed the core gut microbiome, though the rational diet produced some specific bacterial and functional shifts; the Paleo diet was lower in carbs and higher in (mostly unsaturated) fats, and both diets fell short on vitamin D, with the Paleo group also low in calcium.
Evaluación de carbohidratos sobre la hipertrofia muscular inducida por el entrenamiento de fuerza: una revisión narrativa de la evidencia científica
This narrative review pooled 15 studies to ask whether eating carbohydrates directly drives muscle growth from lifting weights. It concluded that when protein and total calories are adequate, extra carbs don't independently boost muscle protein synthesis or mass, since that process depends mainly on essential amino acids like leucine; instead, carbs help indirectly by refilling glycogen, sustaining energy and reducing fatigue so you can train harder and longer. The authors note strength athletes are typically advised 3-7 g of carbohydrate per kg of bodyweight daily depending on training volume.
Effect Of Fatigue Mitigation On Kicking Precision During Penalty Shootout In Soccer
Researchers tested whether refuelling during a match protects penalty-kick accuracy: 20 elite young male players played 120 minutes, with one group given a rice-stew-fish meal (4 g/kg body mass) plus a glucose-fructose electrolyte drink (1.2 g/kg) and the other not. The fed group kept higher blood glucose, reported less general fatigue, and shot more accurately after extra time, while the unfed control group's kicking precision dropped significantly.
Preferences of Female Triathletes and Their Coaches for Education on REDs: A Qualitative Study
Researchers interviewed 12 female triathletes and 8 coaches about how they learn about Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) and what education formats they prefer. Both groups were keen to learn more, but the sport's ingrained 'leaner is faster' culture and reluctance to change training habits were seen as barriers; participants favoured podcasts mixing expert content with real athletes' stories.
Carbon monoxide and other “tricks” in sports: does the winner take it all?
This is an opinion piece, not an experiment: it uses the trend of athletes repeatedly inhaling carbon monoxide (and using simulated-altitude hypoxia) as an example of risky shortcuts chased in elite sport. The author notes CO inhalation has been banned by cycling's governing body and WADA over safety concerns, that its performance benefits are unproven and possibly offset by inflammation and toxicity, and argues that lasting success comes from years of consistent, evidence-based training rather than tricks.
Clinical Limitations of Oral Contraceptives in the Management of Functional Hypothalamic Amenorrhea in Female Athletes
This review examined whether birth control pills are a good way to protect bone health in female athletes who have lost their periods due to low energy availability (functional hypothalamic amenorrhea). It reports that the pill creates a withdrawal bleed without actually restoring normal hormonal function, which can hide an ongoing energy deficit, and that oral estrogen may lower IGF-1 and blunt bone benefits, whereas transdermal (patch) estradiol avoids liver first-pass metabolism and preserves IGF-1.
Prospective associations of tea consumption with skeletal muscle mass and strength: Insights from the gut microbiome and proteomics
Researchers followed about 3,400 adults for roughly 12 years, tracking how often they drank tea (plus blood markers of tea compounds called flavan-3-ols) alongside repeated scans of muscle mass and grip strength tests. People who drank tea more often, and those with higher blood flavan-3-ols, tended to have more limb muscle mass and stronger grip (though no difference in walking speed), and the study found related differences in gut bacteria, fecal metabolites, and blood proteins that might partly explain the link.
The association between a body shape index and cardiorespiratory fitness among adolescents in rural China: a sex-specific cross-sectional study
Researchers measured height, weight, waist circumference and 20-metre shuttle run performance in nearly 19,000 rural Chinese adolescents aged 6-17 to see how body shape (a body shape index, ABSI, which combines waist size with height and weight) relates to cardiorespiratory fitness. They found an inverted U-shaped relationship: shuttle run performance peaked at a middle ABSI value for each age group and was lower at both lower and higher values.
Lean mass development trajectories in children and adolescents and their associations with musculoskeletal health in emerging adulthood
Researchers tracked 323 people from age 8 to 23, sorting them into low, average, or high lean (muscle) mass trajectories based on repeated body scans, then measured their bone and muscle health at age 23. Those who consistently carried more limb lean mass ended up with denser bones (up to 17% higher), stronger tibia and radius bones (22–45%), and larger muscle area (+32%), while those on a low trajectory had 8–11% lower bone density and markedly weaker shin bones.
Visualization of Physical Education Classroom Interaction Structure and Teaching Improvement Path Based on Social Network Analysis
Researchers video-recorded an 8-hour middle school basketball unit and mapped 1,027 interactions between one teacher and 40 students using social network analysis. They found a sparse, teacher-centered network where a few high-skill students got most of the attention, students clustered into groups by skill level and gender, and peripheral students received significantly fewer interaction opportunities.
Improvement of Sports Training Efficiency Driven by Artificial Intelligence Practice of Monitoring and Dynamic Adjustment of Training Load through Multimodal Physiological Data Fusion
This paper proposes an AI system that combines several types of physiological sensor data (rather than a single metric like heart rate) to estimate an athlete's training load in real time and automatically adjust the training plan. The authors report that their experiments showed more accurate load assessment, better performance, faster recovery, and fewer injuries, though the abstract gives no specific numbers, athlete details, or comparison conditions.
Research on the Construction and Campus Promotion of Prevention-Oriented Intervention Model for Physical Fitness Rehabilitation of College Students—Based on the Perspective of Improving Physical Health
Researchers built a preventive fitness program for university students and tested it on 800 students who had failed their school's physical fitness test, running a 16-week multi-part intervention. Afterwards, lung capacity scores rose 12.3%, sit-and-reach flexibility improved 18.7%, and the fitness test pass rate climbed from 61.5% to 84.2%.
Potential effects of β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate and exercise on brain aging and age-related disorders: implications for immunometabolic regulation and muscle–brain–immune crosstalk
This review pooled 24 studies on the leucine metabolite HMB to see whether it affects brain aging, inflammation, and immune-metabolic health, especially alongside exercise. Most studies showed gains in strength, physical performance, and function (often without much added muscle mass), but direct brain-specific evidence was lacking, and exercise itself appeared to be the main driver of the benefits, with HMB playing only a supporting, context-dependent role.
Endocrine markers of energy deficiency and within-day energy balance metrics in elite athletes
Researchers assessed 43 Swedish national-team athletes for Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) using body composition scans, resting metabolic rate, blood markers, questionnaires and 4-day food/energy tracking. Over half (53.5%) were classified with REDs — more often women — and these athletes had higher cortisol, lower resting metabolic rate ratio, lower energy intake and availability, and spent more time in energy deficit during the day; similar patterns showed up in half the 'control' athletes too, suggesting a continuum rather than clear-cut categories.
The Effect of Caffeine Mouth Rinsing on Shooting Performance in Bocce Volo Players: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Study
Twenty-four professional male bocce volo players each completed shooting tests under three conditions in random order: swishing a caffeine solution in the mouth, a placebo rinse, and no rinse. Shooting accuracy (both points and accuracy percentage) was significantly higher with the caffeine mouth rinse than with placebo or no rinse.
<b>MAGNÉSIO E DESEMPENHO FÍSICO EM ATLETAS: UMA REVISÃO INTEGRATIVA</b>
This integrative review pooled 6 studies (from 175 initially found in PubMed, BVS and Cochrane) on whether magnesium intake or supplementation improves athletes' health and physical performance. It found that while supplementation reliably raises magnesium levels in the body, performance benefits were inconsistent in people who weren't already deficient "" gains seemed to come from correcting a nutritional shortfall rather than boosting performance directly.
Profesyonel Korumalı Futbol Oyuncularının İzometrik Kol Kuvvetleri ile Görsel Motor Reaksiyon Süreleri Arasındaki İlişkinin İncelenmesi
Researchers tested 11 professional American football players, measuring isometric arm strength (with an ActiveForce2 dynamometer) and visual-motor reaction times (with Fitlight units) for both the right and left hands on separate days. They then used correlation analysis to see whether arm strength related to reaction speed; the abstract text is cut off and only shows very strong correlations among the arm strength measures themselves, so no conclusion about strength versus reaction time is reported.
Estimation of resting metabolic rate in professional soccer players: A cross-sectional study comparing traditional predictive equations and a preliminary machine learning model against indirect calorimetry
Researchers measured resting metabolic rate (calories burned at rest) in 40 male professional soccer players using indirect calorimetry, the gold-standard lab method, and compared it with twelve common prediction equations plus an experimental machine learning model. All twelve equations agreed poorly with the lab measurement and overestimated calorie needs by roughly 8% to 36%, while the machine learning model had somewhat smaller errors but still explained little of the variation between players.
Correlates of muscle strengthening exercise in adolescents: A machine learning based analysis
Researchers used a machine-learning model on survey data from over 20,000 U.S. high school students to find out which factors predict doing muscle-strengthening exercise at least 3 days a week. About 62% met the guideline, and the strongest predictors were overall moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, being male, and diet quality (e.g., fruit intake), while poorer mental health was linked to lower adherence.
Possible relationship between genetic polymorphisms and the risk of exercise addiction among Turkish elite athletes: an exploratory pilot study
Researchers scanned the whole genome of 168 Turkish elite athletes to see whether any genetic variants were linked to exercise addiction, measured with the Exercise Addiction Inventory. No variant reached genome-wide statistical significance, though 11 SNPs showed weaker 'suggestive' associations, including one previously tied to alcohol dependence; the authors stress this is preliminary and unreplicated.
Starting Point Matters: Baseline Protein Intake as a Moderator of the Protein-Fat-Free Mass Relationship in Energy-Restricted Athletes.
This opinion paper argues that studies on how much protein preserves muscle during dieting usually only look at the protein dose prescribed, ignoring how much protein people were already eating beforehand. The authors present exploratory evidence that people who already eat a lot of protein may see diminishing returns in muscle preservation from eating even more, and they stress measuring baseline intake accurately after a dietary adaptation period.
Current Evidence and Practical Considerations for Adaptogen Use in Exercise Recovery, Training Adaptation, and Exercise Performance in Athletes: A Narrative Review.
This narrative review gathered existing research on "adaptogen" supplements — ashwagandha, ginseng (Panax), Rhodiola rosea, and Cordyceps — and their potential effects on recovery, training adaptation, and performance in trained athletes. The authors report that a small number of varied studies hint at some benefits, with ashwagandha having the most consistent evidence, while the other three remain preliminary; overall the evidence is too thin and inconsistent to set dosing or efficacy recommendations, and female athletes are underrepresented.
Effects of Beetroot-Derived Nitrate Supplementation in Highly Trained and Elite Athletes: A Scoping Review of Randomized Controlled Trials on Performance, Recovery, and Physiological Outcomes.
This scoping review pooled 31 randomized controlled trials testing beetroot juice (a nitrate source) in highly trained and elite athletes, with doses of roughly 4-19.5 mmol nitrate per day taken from a single dose up to 15 days. Benefits showed up most often for cycling time trials, Yo-Yo intermittent recovery tests, anaerobic power, neuromuscular performance, exercise tolerance and recovery, while results for endurance performance, sport skills, oxygen use and perceived effort were inconsistent even though blood nitrate levels clearly rose.
Nutritional Strategies for Recovery-Adaptation Coupling After Exercise: From Muscle Damage to Performance Remodeling.
This narrative review proposes a framework called recovery-adaptation coupling (RAC), which tries to balance recovering fast for the next session against blunting the biological signals that drive long-term training adaptation. Reviewing 130 papers, the authors found the strongest applied support for adequate energy intake, protein spread through the day, carbohydrate refueling when the next session is soon, and individualized fluid and sodium replacement, while polyphenols, curcumin, omega-3s and creatine were context-dependent and collagen/gelatin evidence was only mechanistic or pilot-level; the RAC framework itself is unvalidated.
Delaying task failure in high-intensity exercise: a Pi-afferent-effort framework for targeted sports nutrition.
This is a theory paper (not an experiment) proposing that fatigue during hard exercise comes from several limits converging at once: inorganic phosphate buildup impairing muscle contraction, acid-base disturbance, nerve feedback from the muscles restricting motor output, and how effort and pain feel. The authors then map common supplements onto whichever limit each is most likely to influence, e.g. nitrate to lower the ATP cost of work, creatine to support phosphocreatine and between-set recovery, beta-alanine and sodium bicarbonate for acid-base buffering, caffeine for effort perception and pain tolerance, and carbohydrate for prolonged or repeated hard efforts.
Effects of Acute Caffeine Supplementation on Physical, Sport-Specific, Physiological, Perceptual, and Cognitive Outcomes in Female Team-Sport Athletes: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis.
Researchers pooled 26 randomized placebo-controlled crossover trials to see how a single dose of caffeine affects female team-sport athletes across physical, sport-specific, physiological, perceptual, and cognitive outcomes. Caffeine produced small improvements in physical performance (repeated sprints, agility, speed, anaerobic power, jumping) and reduced perceived exertion, while raising heart rate; effects on sport-specific skills and cognition were unclear, and no dose, timing, or formulation stood out as better.
Real-world creatine supplementation: a large-scale cross-sectional study of use, knowledge, and experiences.
Researchers surveyed 2,178 real-world creatine users (median age 55, roughly half women) from a supplement-tracking app about how they use creatine, what they know about it, and what they experience. Nearly all planned to keep using it and satisfaction averaged 7.8/10, but only 55% felt they got a benefit; cognitive improvement was the most common goal (67.8%) yet 64.4% of those users didn't perceive a cognitive benefit, and better creatine knowledge was the most consistent correlate of a good experience, with side effects and unmet expectations more common in women and older adults.
The Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Upper- and Lower-Body Strength and Power: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Systematic review and meta-analysis quantifying the effect of creatine supplementation on upper- and lower-body strength and power outcomes.
Effects of creatine supplementation on muscle strength gains — a meta-analysis and systematic review
Meta-analysis and systematic review estimating the overall effect of creatine supplementation on muscle strength gains.
Creatine supplementation and resistance training: a comparison between novice and experienced lifters — a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis
Dose-response meta-analysis comparing the strength and lean-mass effects of creatine plus resistance training in novice versus experienced lifters.
Effect of creatine supplementation on kidney function: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Systematic review and meta-analysis assessing whether creatine supplementation affects markers of kidney function.
Short-term creatine supplementation enhances strength, reduces fatigue, and accelerates recovery in resistance-trained athletes: a double-blind, randomized, crossover trial
Double-blind, randomized crossover trial testing whether short-term creatine loading affects strength, fatigue, and recovery in resistance-trained athletes.
Comparative Effects of Dietary Protein, Creatine, and Omega-3 Supplementation on Muscle Strength, Endurance, and Recovery in Trained Athletes: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis
Network meta-analysis ranking dietary protein, creatine, and omega-3 supplementation for their effects on strength, endurance, and recovery in trained athletes.