Effect of a Bean (Phaseolus Vulgaris L.) Protein-added Supplement on Body Composition in High-performance Adolescent Athletes: a Pilot Study

Background: Sport is a specialized competitive physical activity that is regulated and requires daily physical training. The workouts allow athletes to increase strength, endurance exercise performance, and muscle mass. Due to this, it is extremely important to consider that high-performance athletes require a meal plan with a higher energy requirement compared to a normal person who does not perform high-intensity activity. The diet of these athletes needs higher protein requirements to support the accumulation and/or maintenance of lean mass. Specifically athletes between 4 to 17 years of age, the protein requirement is of utmost importance to maintain muscle mass between 68-73%. Therefore, the recommendations for protein intake for athletes in this age range is approximately between 10 and 30% of the total energy intake. One of the strategies that has been used is supplementation with protein isolates, since in this way there is greater protein accessibility to maintain a balance between protein synthesis and degradation. The main protein supplements that are currently consumed come from proteins of animal origin; however, these usually have high costs, which makes them difficult to access for the population. Due to this, strategies have begun to be sought through the use of different proteins to generate similar effects.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a bean protein supplement on body composition in high-performance adolescent athletes.

Methodology: The protocol will be divided into two stages, in the first one a supplement added with bean protein will be elaborated. First, the extraction of protein from the bean will be carried out, then it will be subjected to a heat treatment to eliminate anti-nutrients and finally its chemical composition will be analyzed. In the second stage, a pilot study will be carried out to evaluate the effect of the bean protein supplement in high-performance adolescent athletes. High-performance table tennis athletes, adolescents who agree to collaborate with the study will be included. Bean protein supplementation will be for 21 continuous days in the athletes' snack. Anthropometric measurements will be taken at the beginning and at the end of the intervention. A control of the diet and supplementation of the athletes will be carried out with the support of their coaches.