Abstract
An individual's dietary and supplement strategies can influence markedly their physical performance. Personalized nutrition in athletic populations aims to optimize health, body composition, and exercise performance by targeting dietary recommendations to an individual's genetic profile. Sport dietitians and nutritionists have long been adept at placing additional scrutiny on the one-size-fits-all general population dietary guidelines to accommodate various sporting populations. However, generic “one-size-fits-all” recommendations still remain. Genetic differences are known to impact absorption, metabolism, uptake, utilization and excretion of nutrients and food bioactives, which ultimately affects a number of metabolic pathways. Nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics are experimental approaches that use genomic information and genetic testing technologies to examine the role of individual genetic differences in modifying an athlete's response to nutrients and other food components. Although there have been few randomized, controlled trials examining the effects of genetic variation on performance in response to an ergogenic aid, there is a growing foundation of research linking gene-diet interactions on biomarkers of nutritional status, which impact exercise and sport performance. This foundation forms the basis from which the field of sport nutrigenomics continues to develop. We review the science of genetic modifiers of various dietary factors that impact an athlete's nutritional status, body composition and, ultimately athletic performance.
Highlights
Sport and exercise performance are significantly influenced by nutrition, yet individuals respond differently to the same foods, nutrients and supplements consumed
This paper provided an overview of the current science linking genetic variation to nutritional or supplemental needs with a focus on sport performance
Genetic testing for personalized nutrition may, be an additional tool that can be implemented into the practice of sport clinicians, nutritionists and coaches to guide nutritional counseling and meal planning with the aim of optimizing athletic performance
Summary
Sport and exercise performance are significantly influenced by nutrition, yet individuals respond differently to the same foods, nutrients and supplements consumed. Despite the fervent interest and ubiquity of commercial genetic testing to assess and improve exercise or sport performance [30,31,32], it should be noted that there is a lack of evidence encompassing exercise prescription and talent identification, such as the ability to predict the likelihood for the generation of Olympians [33, 34] At this time there is insufficient evidence to recommended training protocols (strength or endurance) based on genotype or polygenic scores, that target specific fitness, weight loss or sport goals [35,36,37,38]. Mainstream testing for personalized training or exercise prescription based on genotype is not currently supported as a scientifically-sound approach, it is likely to be a common and viably employed coaching tool within the decade [35,36,37, 43, 44]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
