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Optimizing Muscle Health, Exercise Recovery and Sports Performance Through Nutritional Strategies

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2027 | Viewed by 1229

Editor


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Interests: racket sports; circadian rhythms; sports nutrition; injury risk factors; intermittent sports
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Muscle health, exercise recovery, and physical performance are closely linked to nutritional strategies. Adequate and well-designed nutrition supports skeletal muscle function, enhances training adaptations and facilitates recovery across a wide range of populations, (i.e., athletes and special populations such as older adults and post-menopausal women). Scienficic evidence highlights the importance of sufficient energy availability and balanced macro- and micronutrient intake to preserve lean mass and support recovery following exercise-induced muscle damage. In addition, increasing attention has been given to bioactive compounds and dietary supplements with potential ergogenic and recovery-related effects, including dietary nitrates, omega-3 fatty acids, polyphenols, creatine, and curcumin. Therefore, emerging research also underscores the relevance of personalized and context-specific nutritional approaches that consider factors such as age, sex, training demands, and metabolic health. The purpose of this Special Issue is to contribute new scientific knowledge on nutritional strategies that optimize muscle health and exercise recovery, integrating mechanistic, applied, and translational evidence from both athletic and special populations, with the ultimate aim of advancing evidence-based practice and long-term health outcomes.

Dr. Álvaro López Samanes
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • exercise recovery
  • nutritional strategies
  • skeletal muscle function
  • bioactive compounds
  • dietary supplements
  • personalized nutrition
  • oxidative stress
  • ergogenic aids
  • nutrient timing
  • sex-specific responses

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

35 pages, 2760 KB  
Review
Food-Based Antioxidant Nutrition for Exercise Recovery and Training Adaptation: A Narrative Review and Conceptual Framework for Redox Signaling, Dietary Matrices, and Periodized Application
by Hua Yang, Jingmei Dong, Jing Yang, Chieh-Chen Wu and Chun-Hsien Su
Nutrients 2026, 18(13), 2115; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18132115 - 29 Jun 2026
Viewed by 883
Abstract
Exercise-induced reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) serve as crucial signaling molecules for training adaptation, mitochondrial biogenesis, and inflammatory resolution, rather than being mere markers of oxidative damage. Chronic or excessive high-dose antioxidant supplementation may suppress these vital redox-sensitive pathways. Consequently, this narrative [...] Read more.
Exercise-induced reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) serve as crucial signaling molecules for training adaptation, mitochondrial biogenesis, and inflammatory resolution, rather than being mere markers of oxidative damage. Chronic or excessive high-dose antioxidant supplementation may suppress these vital redox-sensitive pathways. Consequently, this narrative review examines food-based antioxidant strategies as approaches for redox modulation, meaning support for recovery and redox homeostasis without indiscriminately suppressing exercise-induced redox signals that may contribute to training adaptation, while emphasizing the distinction between whole-food matrices and isolated supplements. A structured literature search was conducted across major electronic databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus. The search focused on intersecting themes of exercise physiology, redox biology, and sports nutrition. The reviewed evidence includes short-term human intervention studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and mechanistic studies examining tart cherry, berries, pomegranate, cocoa, green tea, beetroot, extra virgin olive oil, and Mediterranean-style dietary patterns. Overall, the evidence suggests that these food-based strategies may influence recovery-related outcomes through mechanisms extending beyond direct radical scavenging, including inflammatory regulation, vascular function, and gut-derived metabolism; however, the strength and consistency of findings vary by food source, outcome, dose, timing, study population, dietary matrix, and bioavailability. Current literature does not support universal, fixed daily antioxidant use. Food-based strategies appear most appropriate during periods of elevated recovery demands, such as heavy training blocks, congested competition, muscle damage, or environmental stress. Food-based antioxidant nutrition should therefore be interpreted as a conceptual, evidence-informed approach to periodized and context-specific recovery support, rather than as a universal or evidence-graded guideline, because much of the available evidence derives from short-term and heterogeneous intervention studies. These strategies should complement foundational sports nutrition practices (energy availability, macronutrient distribution, hydration, and sleep) when balancing the preservation of long-term training adaptations with the need for acute recovery. Full article
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