Improving Athletes’ Diet and Physical Fitness: What Do We Know So Far?

Dear Colleagues,

For athletes, especially those who are young, a well-balanced diet containing an adequate amount of macronutrients and micronutrients should be able to meet most of the athletes’ needs and support their physical fitness, sporting performance, as well as muscle growth and repair. Proper nutrition is essential given the high level of stress faced by the bodies of athletes. 

Different dietary patterns have been explored with respect to cardiorespiratory fitness, physical strength, sports performance and muscle recovery in athletes. Some commonly explored diets include high-protein diets and ketogenic diets, as well as a variety of antioxidant, anti-stress and anti-inflammatory dietary strategies. It is also essential to highlight the increased reliance of athletes on sports foods and dietary supplements to optimize training adaptation and boost performance. Most of the time, those supplements are taken with little/no professional guidance and do not provide any additional benefits.  

This Special Issue aims to communicate up-to-date evidence-based knowledge on the interaction between different dietary approaches and physical fitness, and their role in optimizing performance and supporting fast recovery in athletes of different age groups, involved in different types of sports. All forms of manuscripts, including experimental papers, narrative reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and short communications, are welcomed.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Dr. Dalia El Khoury
Guest Editor

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