Double Blind, Randomized, Placebo Controlled Pilot Study to Evaluate the Effect of Nutritional Supplementation on Physical Activity Performance of Young Soccer Players

Research has clearly shown that lacking sufficient calories, macro- and micro-nutrients may impair an athlete's training adaptations, while athletes who consume a balanced diet that meets energy needs can enhance physiological training adaptations. Maintaining an energy and nutrient deficient diet during training may lead to loss of muscle mass, strength, and bone mineral density, in addition to an increased susceptibility to illness and injuries, disturbances in immune, endocrine and reproductive function, and an increased prevalence of overreaching and/or overtraining. In children and adolescent athletes, an insufficient diet may additionally result in impaired physical growth. Incorporating good dietary practices as part of a training program is one way to help optimize training adaptations and prevent overtraining.

Based on this, nutritional supplementation is an effective and safe approach for attaining the high nutritional requirements of adolescent athletes, to help them maintain healthy growth. Nutritional supplementation could also improve their body composition, sport performance and general health. The primary objective of the proposed study is to evaluate the effect of dietary supplement versus placebo on growth and physical activity performance in young athletes. A total of 50 young soccer players (25 in each group) will participate in this Double blind, randomized, placebo controlled study.