Biotics and bioactive compounds for sports injuries 🧬

Key nutrients and nutritional opportunities or sports injuries.

May 28, 2026

The role of biotics and bioactive compounds in sports injuries: a narrative review

Study Details

This new narrative review explored how probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics and bioactive compounds may support injury recovery in athletes 🔍

Sports injuries trigger inflammation, oxidative stress, tissue damage and sometimes immobilisation-related muscle loss ⚠️

Nutrition may support recovery by helping manage inflammation, muscle protein breakdown, gut barrier function and tissue repair 🧐

Here are the key findings ⬇️

Key Findings

Biotics may support recovery 🦠

👉 Probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics may influence injury recovery through the gut-muscle and gut-bone axis

Potential mechanisms include…

🔥 Reduced inflammation

⚙️ Improved gut barrier function

📈 Increased short-chain fatty acid production

💪 Lower muscle protein breakdown

🦴 Support for muscle and bone repair

Infographic displaying effects of prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics on human health, with a central outline of a digestive system. Listed benefits include anti-inflammatory, anti-atrophic, metabolic, and muscle-regenerative effects, with key molecular markers and pathways affected indicated by up or down arrows.

Polyphenols show promise 🍒

👉 Curcumin, resveratrol and quercetin may help reduce markers of muscle damage such as CK, LDH and IL-6 after damaging exercise

Diagram illustrating probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics with examples above an image of intestines, showing their benefits below as enhanced tissue repair, anti-oxidative effects, reduced inflammation, improved muscle recovery, and stimulation of the immune system.

Omega-3s may support brain and tendon injury models 🐟

👉 Omega-3 fatty acids showed potential benefits in traumatic brain injury, repeated head impacts and tendon injury studies, largely through anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective mechanisms

Diagram illustrating how omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) impact neuroprotection and tendon healing. Various cellular pathways and markers are downregulated, leading to reduced microglial polarization, necroptosis, inflammation, and neuroaxonal damage for neuroprotection, and improved Achilles tendon function and collagen production for tendon healing.

Vitamin D and calcium remain important 💊

👉 Low vitamin D status may increase stress fracture risk, while correcting deficiency appears more relevant than supplementing blindly

Conclusion

These compounds may support the recovery environment, but they are not a replacement for the basics (energy intake, protein etc) ‼️

But once you have those bases covered, these additional nutrients may be useful strategies ✅

Especially for injury scenarios where an “employ anything that could be beneficial” mindset is common 🤔

Reference

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2026.1813030/full

Performance Nutrition Digest is powered by Healthspan Elite ⚡️

Healthspan Elite is a science-led sports nutrition range developed in collaboration with leading experts to support athletic performance, recovery, and health.

Use code: TCDIGEST25 for 25% off at https://www.healthspanelite.co.uk/ 💪

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?