Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
9.1
5.0
Journals
Nutrients
Special Issues
Selected Papers from the 5th International Online Conference on Nutrients...
nutrients-logo
Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Nutrients Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

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: 5 November 2026 | Viewed by 20316

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Mauro Lombardo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Human Sciences and Promotion of Quality of Life, San Raffaele Open University, Rome, Italy
Interests: obesity; sports nutrition; bariatric surgery; body composition; mediterranean diet; clinical nutrition
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. David C. Nieman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina Research Campus, Kannapolis, NC, USA Country: USA
Interests: sports nutrition; exercise; immunology; inflammation; obesity; metabolomics; proteomics; lipid mediators
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Elvira Padua

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Human Science and Promotion of Quality of Life, San Raffaele Open University of Rome, 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

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Other

15 pages, 590 KB  
Article
Diet Quality, Supplementation, and Professional Support as Markers of Injury Load in Polish Football Players: A Cross-Sectional Study
by Aureliusz Kosendiak, Dawid Konieczko and Elżbieta Biernat
Nutrients 2026, 18(6), 887; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18060887 - 11 Mar 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 669
Abstract
Background/Objectives: American football (AF) is a contact sport with a high injury risk, where an integrated model of interdisciplinary care may support recovery. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between diet quality, supplementation, dietician’s and physiotherapist’s support, injury [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: American football (AF) is a contact sport with a high injury risk, where an integrated model of interdisciplinary care may support recovery. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between diet quality, supplementation, dietician’s and physiotherapist’s support, injury rates and musculoskeletal pain among AF players in Poland. Methods: The study involved 53 male players from the FA Panthers Wrocław team and was conducted using the KomPAN questionnaire and an original survey on supplementation, injuries and pain intensity. Results: The results showed that, although players using supplements had a significantly greater proportion of healthy foods in their overall diet (p = 0.02), they did not report fewer injuries in the last 12 months and 7 days than those who did not use supplements (p = 0.87; p = 0.58, respectively). However, a positive correlation (p≤ 0.001, r = 0.53) was found between the healthy diet index and the number of injuries. Those who used the services of a dietitian and physiotherapist showed a higher quality of diet (p= 0.02; p= 0.02, respectively) and reported higher total pain intensity (p= 0.009; p= 0.03), while those who used only the services of a physiotherapist reported higher average pain intensity (p≤ 0.001). Conclusions: These results suggest that supplementation and professional support in this group are primarily due to exposure after injuries caused by severe pain, rather than serving a preventive function. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th International Online Conference on Nutrients—Sports Nutrition: Innovation, Performance, Microbiota and Sustainability)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

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
Viewed by 16721
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
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th International Online Conference on Nutrients—Sports Nutrition: Innovation, Performance, Microbiota and Sustainability)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Other

Jump to: Research

26 pages, 749 KB  
Systematic Review
Body Composition and Dietary Intake of Combat Sports Athletes: A Systematic Review
by José Francisco Herrero Barceló, José Miguel Martínez Sanz and Mónica Castillo Martínez
Nutrients 2026, 18(6), 884; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18060884 - 10 Mar 2026
Viewed by 1899
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Combat sports are characterised by successive high-intensity and short-duration episodes (rounds) interspersed with short rest periods (intermittent nature). Athletes’ body composition and dietary intake are closely related to physiological demands, and they are determining factors in athletic performance. The aim of [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Combat sports are characterised by successive high-intensity and short-duration episodes (rounds) interspersed with short rest periods (intermittent nature). Athletes’ body composition and dietary intake are closely related to physiological demands, and they are determining factors in athletic performance. The aim of this systematic review was to describe the body composition, dietary intake, and food habits of male and female combat sports athletes, and to verify whether they met nutritional recommendations. Methods: A search was performed in the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases following the PRISMA statement. The timeframe for the search included studies from the year 2000 until 2 February 2026. Risk of bias was assessed using the STROBE and the Newcastle–Ottawa checklists. Initially, 328 documents were identified. The research focused on amateur, semi-professional, or professional athletes in boxing, karate, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, taekwondo, judo, muay thai, and mixed martial arts (MMA). Results: After screening, 23 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Most of the athletes, both men and women, had normal body mass indices (BMIs), with low or normal fat percentages and adequate muscle mass during both reference and pre-competitive periods. Regarding dietary intake, most of the athletes, male and female, had energy and carbohydrate intakes below official recommendations. Energy and nutrient intake decreased during pre-competition periods as a strategy for achieving pre-competitive rapid weight loss, which mainly occurred at the expense of lean mass. Conclusions: Despite maintaining adequate body composition, combat sports athletes reported an inadequate dietary pattern, especially during pre-competitive periods, which may negatively affect athletic performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th International Online Conference on Nutrients—Sports Nutrition: Innovation, Performance, Microbiota and Sustainability)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop