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Background An increasing number of people, including recreational trained individuals, choose not to consume animal products and follow a vegan diet. Young women in particular are switching to a vegan diet. Studies have shown no difference in performance and muscle adaptations between a balanced vegan and an omnivorous diet. However, there are hardly any studies on the transition phase from an omnivorous to a vegan diet and the potential difficulties. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the influence of a vegan dietary transition and its effects on body composition, physical performance, and menstrual cycle in young, recreationally trained women.Methods Ten young healthy women (23.8 ± 2.0 years, 173.0 ± 5.8 cm) were recruited to participate in this 12-week controlled study (4-week omnivorous phase, 8-week vegan intervention). At the beginning and before the vegan phase, all participants were informed about a balanced diet for fitness-oriented individuals and a vegan lifestyle. They were supervised by a sports dietitian for the entire 12 weeks. Explicit instructions and regular checks on macronutrient distribution were not carried out but had to be implemented independently. The diet was documented using FDDB Extender. The training habits were not explicitly specified, but should not be changed over the entire period. At baseline (T0) and 4-week intervals (T1, T2, T3), body composition (body weight, skeletal muscle mass, fat mass) and performance (squat, countermovement jump) were tested. In addition, the menstrual cycle was examined every two days using saliva samples and a cycle diary.Results Between treatments, there was a significant decrease in absolute (T0: 94.44 ± 20.37 kcal; T3: 71.67 ± 27.64 kcal; p

ABSTRACTBackground Rapid regeneration after intense exercise is essential for competitive athletes. Based on this assumption, supplementation strategies, focusing on food supplements, are increasing to improve the recovery processes. One such supplement is cannabidiol (CBD) which is gaining more attention in competitive sports. However, the evidence is still lacking and there are no data available about the effect of a short-term chronic application.Methods A three-arm double-blind cross-over study was conducted to determine the effects of two different CBD products on performance, muscle damage and inflammatory processes in well-trained athletes. In total 17 subjects took successfully part in this study. Each subject underwent the six-day, high-intensity training protocol three times. After each training session, each subject took either a placebo or a CBD product (60 mg of oil or solubilisate). Between the intervention phases, at least four weeks of washout period was conducted. Before and after the training protocols the performance capacity in countermovement jump (CMJ), back squat (BS), bench press (BP) and 1-mile run were measured and biomarkers for muscle damage (creatine kinase, myoglobin), inflammatory processes (interleukin 6 and 10) and immune cell activity (ratios of neutrophil granulocytes, lymphocytes and, platelets) were analyzed. For statistical analyses, the current version of R and a linear mixed model was used.Results It could identify different effects of the training protocol depending on performance level (advanced or highly advanced athletes) (p

Background Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) has been demonstrated to have anti-inflammatory activity and was tested as a drug for the treatment of various diseases. ALA is also frequently used as a nutrition supplement, in healthy individuals or in competitive athletes. However, information from intervention studies investigating physiological effects of an ALA in athletes after exercise is limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of single and short-term chronic ALA supplementation on the muscle strength recovery and performance of athletes after intensive exercise. Methods In a double-blind, randomised, controlled trial in cross-over design, 17 male resistance and endurance-experienced athletes successfully participated. The subjects were divided into two groups (ALA and Placebo) and underwent a standardized single training session and a high intense training week. At certain time points (T0, T1a (+ 3 h), T1b (+ 24 h) and T2 (+7d)) blood samples were taken and markers for muscle damage, inflammation and oxidative stress were investigated. In addition, the maximum performance in the back squat was measured at all time points. Results In the chronic training experiment, a moderate inhibition of muscle damage and inflammation could be observed in the ALA-group. Performance in the back squat was significantly reduced in the placebo-group, but not in the ALA-group. No anti-oxidative effects could be observed. Conclusions Our data indicate possible effects of ALA supplementation, during intensive training periods result in a reduction of muscle damage, inflammation and an increase of recovery. Whether ALA supplementation in general may enhance performance and the exact training / supplementation scenarios needs to be investigated in future studies.