One year ago, a very good friend and respected colleague passed away, way too young. Kevin Tipton was loved by many and had a great impact on the field of sports nutrition, especially in the field of protein metabolism. To commemorate the life and the scientific achievements of Kevin, I will make sure a blog goes out every year that highlights some of his research. This time I have picked a popular question that gets asked very often: Do I need to take protein with my carbohy

Below are the 5 most popular blogs on mysportscience.com in 2022! Click the title to read... 1. Kevin Tipton will never be forgotten At...

Besides blogs here, we have an extensive list of lectures and mini courses on mysportscienceacademy.com. These lectures are usually...

Ketone esters have received a lot of attention amongst elite athletes but also in the media. We covered the potential role of ketones in these previous blogs (effects on glycogen and performance and ketone bodies: fuel or hype?). Athletes have used ketones for the fuel they can provide, but there is increasing evidence that ketones act as signalling molecules as well as fuel. In fact, the role of ketones as a fuel during exercise has been questioned, since the amount of inges

Should we heat our muscles after exercise to stimulate muscle growth? In a recent blog (see blog post) we discussed some of the research...

You have probably seen footage of well-built athletes such as Usain Bolt, Anthony Joshua, or Cristiano Ronaldo that have immersed (parts...

Protein synthesis underpins adaptations of muscle mass, muscle strength, and all other adaptations to training. Protein quality can be an important factor to increase protein synthesis. The quality of a protein source is determined by 3 main factors: Essential amino acid (EAA) content Leucine content, and Bioavailability (i.e., the availability of ingested amino acids for protein synthesis) These factors all contribute to the degree in which a protein source can increase prot

Sleep is generally accepted as a focal part of the recovery process for athletes and believed to be important to performance. Many athletes track their sleep and aim to get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep per night (1). How much we actually need, is not known, and may be highly individual. There is another reason why sleep may be important: anecdotally athletes who don’t sleep well, seem to get ill more often. However, few studies have investigated the effects of sleep qua

Dietary protein is essential to support muscle maintenance or growth. In previous blogs (1 and 2) we addressed the significance of the amount of protein in each meal, and the pattern of protein consumption throughout the day. We also discussed the importance of protein quality. But what exactly does protein quality mean? And what makes a protein source high quality compared to low? In a series of blogs, we will delve into the topic of protein quality. Starting with an overvie

This questions has been around for many years and even made it to the movie Rocky. No studies were available to confirm or dismiss this...

Ice slush, or slurry, is a very low temperature (0-1 °C) drink made with blended ice and liquids. Although popular as ‘slushies’ and...

In this series of blog posts, we’ve discussed what is meant by the ‘electrolytes’, that are promoted in sports nutrition products. We’ve looked at how much you actually lose during exercise, and what role they play in athlete health and performance during exercise. So far we’ve seen that: Electrolytes are minerals that dissolve in water into their individual, positively or negatively charged ions: Sodium: Na+ and Potassium: K+ Chloride: Cl- Magnesium: Mg2+ and Calcium: Ca2+ a

In this series of blog posts we’ve discussed what sodium is , what it does in the body , how it’s lost in sweat , and how to quantify those losses . In this post, we’ll discuss how to decide if sodium needs replacing during exercise, and whether a targeted approach is necessary or not. Why do we need to replace sodium? As discussed in a previous post, sodium consumed during exercise may have benefits in terms of: improving the taste of drinks maintaining blood sodium concentr

In previous blogs we’ve discussed what sodium is and how it might be helpful during exercise . We’ve also discussed that the amount of sodium lost in sweat varies significantly from person to person. In this article, we’ll take a look at how to determine your sweat sodium losses, and key considerations if you choose to do the testing. What is a sweat sodium test? A sweat sodium test is basically a way of collecting a sample of sweat and then analysing it to determine the so

In previous blogs we’ve discussed what sodium is and how it might be helpful during exercise . We’ve also discussed that the amount of salt lost in sweat varies significantly from person to person. In this article, we’ll take a closer look why that is, and examine if salty sweaters are simply people who eat a lot of salt. How sweat glands work To understand how sodium losses vary from person to person, it’s important to have a basic understanding of how sweat is produced, an

In previous blogs we’ve discussed what sodium is and how it might be helpful during exercise . In this article, Dr Alan McCubbin will take a look at the scientific studies that have explored consuming sodium during exercise, and whether it improves performance. How many studies on sodium intake and performance are there? As part of my PhD on sodium for endurance athletes, I conducted a systematic review, a comprehensive sweep of the academic literature to find any and all st

Sweating is an important cooling mechanism in most sporting conditions. So the most important thing you lose when you sweat is heat! However, sweating also results in fluid losses (which can result in dehydration), and along with this loss of fluid we will lose electrolytes (hence the salty taste of sweat). It is also obvious that some athletes sweat a lot more than others. Sweat rates can vary from almost nothing to 5 litres per hour… In this article we will discuss what fac

Sodium is said to be important for athletes, and different arguments are used to explain why it is so essential. We will dive into the evidence a little more but the infographic below will already provide a short summary of the analysis. Sodium plays several essential roles during exercise. Firstly, sodium plays a crucial role in water balance. It does this due to its effect on osmolality of the extracellular fluid (fluid in the bloodstream and surrounding the outside of cell

In a previous blog we discussed what electrolytes are and what sodium is. We also discussed the role of sodium in a little more detail. In this blog you can find a very brief overview of some other electrolytes and their roles. Sodium and potassium are the main electrolytes in the extra-and intracellular spaces in the body respectively (fluids outside cells, for example in the blood, or inside cells (muscle cells, brain cells, etc.)). Below we will briefly discuss the role

Sodium is the most talked about electrolyte... it is often talked about in relation to hydration but what exactly is it and what exactly does it do? Sodium plays a role in fluid balance, absorption of water, regulation of blood pressure and muscle contraction. Sodium, as the principal electrolyte ( cation ) in the extracellular fluids, serves primarily to maintain normal body water volume, the balance of water between the inside and outside of cells, and blood pressure. Norm