Role of nutrition in performance enhancement and postexercise recovery

Abstract

A number of factors contribute to success in sport, and diet is a key component. An athlete’s dietary requirements depend on several aspects, including the sport, the athlete’s goals, the environment, and practical issues. The importance of individualized dietary advice has been increasingly recognized, including day-to-day dietary advice and specific advice before, during, and after training and/or competition. Athletes use a range of dietary strategies to improve performance, with maximizing glycogen stores a key strategy for many. Carbohydrate intake during exercise maintains high levels of carbohydrate oxidation, prevents hypoglycemia, and has a positive effect on the central nervous system. Recent research has focused on athletes training with low carbohydrate availability to enhance metabolic adaptations, but whether this leads to an improvement in performance is unclear. The benefits of protein intake throughout the day following exercise are now well recognized. Athletes should aim to maintain adequate levels of hydration, and they should minimize fluid losses during exercise to no more than 2% of their body weight. Supplement use is widespread in athletes, with recent interest in the beneficial effects of nitrate, beta-alanine, and vitamin D on performance. However, an unregulated supplement industry and inadvertent contamination of supplements with banned substances increases the risk of a positive doping result. Although the availability of nutrition information for athletes varies, athletes will benefit from the advice of a registered dietician or nutritionist.

The Use of Recovery Strategies Among Participants of the BUPA Great North Run: A Cross-Sectional Survey

“…Using nutritional supplements was most frequently reported as the most beneficial recovery strategy when participants' responses were considered collectively, potentially reflecting an awareness amongst participants that basic nutrition such as replenishing energy and repairing tissue stores is a key aspect of optimising postexercise recovery [12]. However, participants were only questioned regarding their supplementation rather than other nutritional strategies which they may employ, limiting the potential relevance of this finding.…”

Influence of Protein Supplement on the Process of Rehabilitation in Damage of Muscles Caused by Physical Loads

“…Consequently, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of BCAA supplementation on recovery from a sport-specific damaging bout of resistance exercise in trained volunteers. In this way number of researchers have shown that the addition of branched-chain amino acids activates the synthesis and reduces the breakdown of the muscle protein [3,8,12,23,29], but the data of other authors do not confirm these findings [6,7,19,21,28]. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to study the effect of protein supplements (whey protein) on the process of rehabilitation for muscle injuries caused by physical stress.…”

Development of a Food Frequency Questionnaire for Brazilian athletes

“…1,2 Individuals adopting a diet with low energy availability may develop the relative energy deficiency in sport syndrome, known to compromise protein synthesis, bone health, and the functioning of the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and immunological systems. 3,4 Furthermore, low energy availability decreases muscle glycogen storage, which may cause fatigue and increased perception of effort, affecting sports performance. 1,4 Dietary strategies vary according to the sports modalities, personal goals and food preferences.…”