Does carbohydrate intake affect muscle hypertrophy? 🍞💪

Are high carbs required for gains?

The Effect of Carbohydrate Intake on Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Study Details

This new meta-analysis compiled data from 11 studies (227 participants) to establish the effects of carbohydrate intake on muscle growth 🔍

💪 All participants were engaging in resistance-training

🏋️‍♂️ 9 of 11 studies were in trained individuals

Here is what they found ⬇️

Key Findings

Pooled analysis revealed no significant effect of carbohydrate intake on muscle hypertrophy ❌

This finding was also consistent across trials where calories were matched between groups 🍽️

…and when employing direct assessments of muscle growth (e.g. ultrasound imaging) 🩻

Conclusion

Carbohydrate intake does not independently enhance muscle hypertrophy ❌

As long as calories and protein intakes are sufficient, that may be all required to optimise muscle growth ✅

This is for muscle growth outcomes only, we are not talking about other aspects of performance which would likely be of importance to athletes‼️

Reference

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41712097/

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