Whey protein for adolescent football players ⚽️
Does it make a difference to performance?
The effects of whey protein supplementation on athletic performance and body composition in adolescent soccer players: a randomized controlled trial
Study Details
This new study recruited 22 adolescent football players (16 yrs, girls and boys) where they were assigned to consume either…
1️⃣ Whey protein (20 g)
2️⃣ Isocaloric placebo
…twice daily for 10-weeks alongside normal training
Performance and body composition outcomes were analysed pre- and post-intervention 🔍
Key Findings
🫁 VO2max improved in both groups with greater increases in the whey vs placebo group
⏱️ Sprint time improved in both groups (no differences between groups)
💪 Muscle strength was similar across the study for both groups
📉 Muscular endurance declined in the whey group vs placebo 🧐
🩻 Fat-free mass increased in both groups, whereas fat mass was unchanged
Conclusion
These results indicate that whey protein may support cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescent athletes ✅
But has limited effects on body composition or muscular adaptations 🤷♂️
The decrease in muscular endurance is interesting, is it noise in the data? Potentially.
Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41713391/
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