One of the most researched supplements on the market is creatine. Creatine combined with strength training has been shown to consistently help individuals gain more muscle mass, strength, power, and muscle function across the lifespan (from adolescents to older adults). The effects on endurance performance are much less studied, but there is a growing body of evidence that creatine can benefit endurance athletes in critical race situations such as finishing kicks or breakaways (1). What is creatine? As discussed in a previous blog creatine is made from three amino acids, arginine, glycine ..read more

Ketone ester supplements continue to receive attention from athletes for their claimed potential to enhance endurance exercise performance. The basis of this interest stems from being able to drink this supplement and quickly induce ketosis (high blood levels of ketone bodies) without the need to restrict dietary carbohydrate (for example, adhering to a ketogenic diet). It is becoming increasingly clear that ketone supplements influence exercise responses, however scientists still do not fully understand how. Mixed findings for ketone supplements and performance Some research concerning ket ..read more

The fourth edition of the textbook Sport Nutrition by Professor Michael Gleeson and myself was published on 5th June 2024. For the last 2 years we have been working closely with the publishers Human Kinetics to get this 700-page book published. A lot has happened in the world of sports nutrition since the last edition in 2018 and the new textbook reflects this! Here we will briefly discuss what is new in this textbook and why it should be adopted for college, university and online sport nutrition courses around the world. Sport nutrition : a relatively young discipline Nutrition is usually ..read more

There are countless times I have watched sports on TV and commentators provide their insights on the regulation of fuel use. “And then you switch to fat metabolism” is one of the commonly heard catch phrases. Last weekend this happened again when I was watching cycling. But it is a myth that we have a switch that allows us to select different fuels. How does it work? Please pass this one on to TV commentators. Energy for muscle contraction When we exercise the muscle contracts and we need energy for this. The energy is provided in the form of adenosine triphosphate or ATP. The amounts of AT ..read more

Protein is one of the most talked about nutrients. Many products nowadays have added protein. Although this is mostly marketing driven there is also evidence that more protein is often considered better, at least up to a point. However, occasionally we also read reports that a higher protein intake may be detrimental for health. And recently a study received disproportional attention in the media after linking a high protein intake to cardiovascular disease risk. Here we will take a closer and more critical look at the study. Protein intake: good for muscle, bad for the heart? Protein is re ..read more

In a series of previous blogs on mysportscience, the role of blood glucose was discussed and we highlighted what insights Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) can provide athletes now and possibly in the future. In this blog, Dr Nicola Guess highlights the multifactorial nature of glucose metabolism, challenging the notion of straightforward causal links between food intake and glycemic responses. In previous blogs Dr Mike Riddell and I discussed opportunities and also some limitations of CGM. CGM in sport Is CGM a fuel gauge? Are CGMs accurate? How can CGM be used? There are many ways in wh ..read more

Current sports nutrition guidelines recommend distributing protein intake in multiple equal meals throughout the day (1). This concept of protein distribution is primarily based on studies suggesting that only a limited amount of protein ingested in a single meal can effectively be used for muscle protein synthesis (the process that allows muscle to recover and adapt to training). It was believed that there is a linear increase in muscle protein synthesis up to doses of approximately 20 g protein, with a relatively small 10-20% further benefit when the dose is further increased to 40 g (2,3 ..read more

Glycogen is essential for high intensity exercise performance. A review concluded that elevated glycogen concentration can improve performance by 2-3% and endurance capacity by 15-25%. Muscle glycogen concentrations can be increased by eating a diet that is rich in carbohydrate. However, studies in the 70s suggested that extreme glycogen loading protocols resulted in very high muscle glycogen concentrations. These protocols employed combinations of high carbohydrate days, low carbohydrate days and extreme exercise to achieve this (see a previous blog). Athletes successfully used these carb loa ..read more

In previous blogs we have discussed the role of protein intake for muscle protein synthesis. However, muscle contains many different functional proteins. While most research has focussed on contractile proteins, muscle also contains many connective proteins that play a very important role in transferring forces along the muscle. As much as 80% of the contractile force is transferred through the connective protein network before reaching the tendon to facilitate joint movement. These connective proteins are found both inside the muscle cells and well as on the outside of these cells. Components ..read more

Fructose can constitute a substantial energy source in the human diet. It is a dispensable (non-essential) nutrient, and no adverse effects of a fructose-deprived diet have been reported. However, specific fructose-metabolising enzymes are expressed in most mammals, including humans, indicating that this source of energy most likely conferred some metabolic advantage at some point during evolution. In athletes, fructose is often used in addition to glucose or maltodextrins as a way to deliver more carbohydrate and improve endurance performance. This blog describes the possible role of fructose ..read more