Research at the exercise physiology and sports nutrition research group at Ghent University has unraveled a novel supplement for improvement of high-intensity exercise performance. The research was rewarded with the GSSI Nutrition Award at the European Congress of Sport Science (ECSS) in Prague in July.
ECSS, the well-known congress for all things related sports sciences, has some partnerships within the sport science related industry. The Gatorade Sport Science Institute (GSSI) is the Official ECSS Sports Performance Hydration and Nutrition Partner. GSSI is committed to helping athletes optimize their health and performance through research and education in hydration and nutrition science, with the aim to provide athletes with recommendations to achieve their goals. With the yearly GSSI Nutrition award at the ECSS congress, GSSI is promoting research in the field of nutrition and hydration. This year, the award was won by Laura Blancquaert, a post-doctoral researcher from the research group of Prof. Wim Derave.
Laura Blancquaert presented data on a novel ergogenic supplement to increase high-intensity exercise performance. The supplement consists of two naturally occurring compounds, named carnosine and anserine. In her presentation, Laura demonstrated that acute ingestion of these pure compounds, 60 minutes before the start of the exercise, led to improved cycling power (+3-6%) in the initial stage of 30sec all-out cycling. This finding opens a new line of research for a novel, pre-exercise nutritional strategy to increase exercise performance. A new evidence-based supplement for athletes involved in high-intensity and sprint-type exercise might be on the rise!
In case you have particular questions about this research, contact Laura Blancquaert of the Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Research group exercise physiology and sports nutrition at laura.blancquaert@UGent.be.
