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Selected Papers from the 5th International Online Conference on Nutrients—Sports Nutrition: Innovation, Performance, Microbiota and Sustainability

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Sports Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 1382

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Human Sciences and Promotion of the Quality of Life, San Raffaele Roma Open University, 00166 Rome, Italy
Interests: obesity; sports nutrition; bariatric surgery; body composition; mediterranean diet; clinical nutrition
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
1. Department of Biology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, USA
2. Human Performance Laboratory, North Carolina Research Campus, Kannapolis, NC 28081, USA
Interests: sports nutrition; exercise; immunology; inflammation; obesity; metabolomics; proteomics; lipid mediators
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Human Sciences and Promotion of the Quality of Life, San Raffaele Open University, Rome, Italy
Interests: physical activity; injury prevention; human movement; training; health promotion; quality of life
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit original research or review articles to this Special Issue of Nutrients, dedicated to selected contributions from the 5th International Online Conference on Nutrients. It focuses on innovative research exploring advanced nutritional strategies in sport, highlighting personalised approaches for optimising performance, enhancing recovery, and improving overall health in different athletic disciplines. Contributions that address gender-specific nutritional strategies, the role of the gut microbiota in performance, and innovative dietary practices that balance athletic excellence with environmental sustainability are particularly welcome. Studies on the efficacy of dietary supplements, recovery techniques, injury prevention, and the long-term impact of dietary choices on athletes' health will also be presented. With this Special Issue, we aim to promote interdisciplinary discussion, advancing scientific understanding in support of evidence-based nutritional guidelines tailored to the athlete community, in line with the aims and purpose of Nutrients.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Mauro Lombardo
Prof. Dr. David C. Nieman
Prof. Dr. Elvira Padua
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sports nutrition
  • personalized nutrition
  • athletic performance
  • recovery strategies
  • injury prevention
  • gut microbiota
  • sustainable diets
  • gender-specific strategies
  • dietary supplements
  • evidence-based guidelines

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 1387 KB  
Article
Effects of Four Weeks of Alternate-Day Fasting with or Without Protein Supplementation—A Randomized Controlled Trial
by Benedict Wei Jun Pang, Yifan Yang, Nur Rashiqah, Christopher Bingqiang Huang and Da Wei Sim
Nutrients 2025, 17(23), 3691; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17233691 - 25 Nov 2025
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Abstract
Background/Objectives: Long-term alternate-day fasting (ADF) effectively combats obesity, but its short-term effects are less clear. Like other diets, ADF-induced weight loss often includes muscle loss, and whether protein supplementation mitigates this is uncertain. This study examined the effects of short-term ADF on [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Long-term alternate-day fasting (ADF) effectively combats obesity, but its short-term effects are less clear. Like other diets, ADF-induced weight loss often includes muscle loss, and whether protein supplementation mitigates this is uncertain. This study examined the effects of short-term ADF on body composition and health and whether protein supplementation preserves muscle mass during weight loss in young Asian men with an unhealthy BMI (≥23.0 kg/m2). Methods: Twenty participants were recruited for a single-arm trial to address the first objective, and twenty-six participants were randomly assigned to a control (C) or protein group (P) in a follow-up trial to address the second objective. The participants alternated between feeding (ad libitum) and fasting (400–600 kcal consumed between 12 and 2 PM) days for four weeks. The participants in P consumed 25 g of whey protein as part of the fasting-day meal. Pre–post body composition was assessed using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Anthropometry, fasting blood glucose (FG), and resting blood pressure (BP) were measured weekly. Results: Since interaction effects were absent, data from all three groups were combined for analyses. Four weeks of ADF significantly (p < 0.001) reduced body (2.4 kg), fat (1.6 kg), and fat-free (0.8 kg) mass. BP and FG levels remained unchanged (p = 0.753–0.919). No significant differences were detected between the C and P groups for any of the measures. Conclusions: Short-term ADF effectively reduced body and fat mass, but it also reduced muscle mass, and this reduction was not attenuated by low-dose protein supplementation (25 g) during fasting days. Future studies should explore the effectiveness of protein or leucine supplementation, throughout the feeding and fasting days, in terms of preserving muscle during weight loss. Full article
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