Top 5 supplements that directly improve athletic performance
If you walk into a GNC or try to google “best nutrients or supplements for athletic performance”, the number of products offering performance-enhancing benefits is endless. So, how do you choose?
Although there are many health claims out there about different supplements providing benefits for exercise and athletes, there are 5 supplements with good to strong scientific evidence for directly improving athletic performance. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) appointed a committee of experts in exercise physiology to release a consensus statement that methodically analyzes the evidence of different nutrients shown to improve exercise performance (Maughan et al. 2018) . This article titled, “IOC Consensus Statement: Dietary Supplements and the High-Performance Athlete”, is the primary source of information for the majority of this post and more information can be found at the citation at the bottom of this page.
Currently, there is no single definition of a dietary supplement in the United States. But for the purposes of this post, a dietary supplement is defined as, “A food, food component, nutrient, or nonfood compound that is purposefully ingested in addition to the habitually-consumed diet with the aim of achieving a specific health and/or performance benefit." Typically supplements claiming to directly or indirectly improve athletic performance are marketed to athletes, but only a few have good evidence of benefits. However, the individual responses to these supplements are affected by frequency of use, timing of use and dosage. In addition, factors like genetics, the microbiome and habitual diet patterns may also effect response to these supplements.
Due to the potential dangers of overconsumption or improper intake of dietary supplements, it is important to rely on quality, peer-reviewed evidence in support of supplement use. I strongly advise relying on expert, professional opinion before beginning supplement use and talking with your dietitian or doctor.
Here are the top 5 supplements with established performance benefit:
1) Caffeine
Caffeine is a stimulant that is well known to improve athletic performance including endurance-based activity, and short-term, repeated high-intensity sprint tasks. Caffeine is absorbed within about 45 minutes after consumption, and peaks in the blood anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours. Caffeine is an effective performance-enhancer because it increases endorphin release (the feel good hormone), increases alertness, improves neuromuscular function (improves response time), and reduces the perception of exertion during exercise. If the perceived effort is reduced, we can often go harder for a longer period of time.
Source of caffeine:
Evidence is mixed on whether caffeine from coffee/tea is as effective as anhydrous caffeine (pill or powder form). However, it is more challenging to determine the precise dose of caffeine from coffee or tea.
Generally, 1 cup of coffee has ~95 mg of caffeine and 1 shot of espresso has 64 mg.
High consumption of soft drinks and energy drinks are not recommended because they contain excess sugar and can lead to overconsumption of caffeine since it is easy to ingest large amounts.
Dose:
Consume 3–6 mg/kg of body weight of caffeine, ∼30-60 min before exercise.
Example: if you weigh 70kg (154 lbs) you would want to consume ~210-420 mg of caffeine.
Ingestion of a small amount of carbohydrates with the caffeine source is also shown to enhance the performance effect. You could add a piece of toast or a banana with your coffee.
Larger caffeine doses (≥9 mg/kg body weight) do not appear to increase the performance benefit and are more likely to increase the risk of negative side effects such as nausea, anxiety, insomnia, and restlessness.
Performance impact includes:
Increased time to fatigue
Faster time trial time (e.g., rowing, cycling, and running)
Increased power output in short term, sprint activities
Increased work output during team sports (e.g. soccer, hockey, football)
Improved skeletal muscle contractility
2) Creatine
Creatine is an amino acid (building block of protein and other metabolites) that is primarily located in muscle and the brain. The body’s liver, pancreas and kidneys make about 1 gram of creatine per day. Our body stores creatine as phosphocreatine in our muscles. Phosphocreatine is a rapidly utilized form of energy that our body uses immediately at the onset of exercise. Creatine loading (taking creatine supplements habitually) can enhance high-intensity exercise performance (e.g. team sports), outcomes of resistance or interval training programs, and lead to greater increase in lean body mass, muscular strength and power.
Dose of creatine monohydrate supplement:
Loading phase: ~20 g/day (divided into 4 equal daily doses), for 5-7 days.
Maintenance phase: 3-5 g/day (single dose) daily.
Consuming a mixed protein/carbohydrate source (50 g of protein and 50 g of carbohydrate) may enhance muscle creatine uptake by stimulating insulin release and increasing storage of creatine in muscle.
Examples of 50 g protein and carbohydrate breakfast:
One piece of whole wheat toast with two-egg omelet with veggies of your choice and 1 ounce of cheddar cheese
1 cup of greek yogurt, 1/4 cup granola with 1/2 cup of raspberries
1 ounce of almonds
Performance Impact:
Increase the rate of phosphocreatine resynthesis which enhances high intensity exercise capacity
Improved ability to maintain repeated bouts of high-intensity exercise (lasting less than 150 seconds)
Enhanced maximum isometric strength (e.g. wall sit, plank hold, glute bridge)
Food sources: seafood and red meat are commonly consumed sources because creatine is found in the muscle of animals. But amounts found in common servings are much less than found in creatine monohydrate pills or powders.
3) Nitrate
Have you ever heard of athletes drinking beetroot juice or celery juice for performance? Or ever wonder why Popeye ate so much spinach? It’s because of all the dietary nitrate in green leafy vegetables and root vegetables!
Nitrate has a complicated history, because for so long we have associated nitrate with preserved foods and cancer from processed meat products like bacon. However, there is actually ALOT of nitrate naturally occurring in vegetables. This is because nitrate from the soil is stored in the roots and leaves of plants.
In the last 20 years, scientists have discovered that nitrate from vegetables (e.g. beetroot juice) is stored in our muscle and is converted to a compound called nitric oxide, or NO, which is essential for blood flow — especially during exercise when our oxygen and nutrient needs are higher. Similar to how a tree delivers nutrients through the roots, our blood vessels deliver oxygen and nutrients to the cells in our body.
However, the effectiveness of nitrate supplementation depends on several factors, including the dose and duration of nitrate supplementation, the duration and intensity of the exercise regimen, and the training status of the individual.
Dose:
High-nitrate foods include spinach, rocket (arugula), celery, beetroot, cabbage, and romaine lettuce. For example, 6 cups of raw spinach is typically > 400 mg of nitrate. However, the amount of nitrate in fresh vegetables varies widely based on soil conditions and where the food was grown.
Short-term supplementation: performance benefits are seen within 2-3 hours of nitrate ingestion of 400-800 mg nitrate.
Long-term supplementation (greater than 3 days): taking in ~400mg of nitrate daily also improves performance because our muscle and liver can store nitrate to be used for later.
Performance Impact:
Increased tolerance to exercise and improved time to exhaustion
Enhanced function of type II muscle fibers (fast-twitch muscle fibers)
Improvement in high-intensity, team sports such as soccer and hockey
Reducing the oxygen cost of exercise (less oxygen needed to maintain the same level of work)
Reduced perceived exertion (ability to work harder longer without feeling as tired)
The effect of nitrate is greater in untrained, healthy individuals than in elite athletes.
Recommended food sources: although whole-food sources of nitrate from vegetables are beneficial for overall health, in order to receive performance benefit it is important to get at least 400 mg nitrate daily. The best way to ensure you receive this much nitrate is to find all natural, concentrated powders and juices such as beetroot juice, celery juice. Some brands I personally like include Beet It Sport and Nutrigardens because they guarantee at least 400 mg nitrate per serving.
5) Beta-alanine
Beta-alanine effects the buffering capacity of muscle helping to sustain high-intensity exercise. When we experience muscular fatigue, it is because of the accumulation of protons (H+) in contracting muscle (not build up of lactic acid!!!). The amino acid, carnosine, is our body’s defense against this proton accumulation. Beta-alanine helps by increasing skeletal muscle carnosine content, which acts as a buffer to inhibit the build up of protons.
Dose:
∼65 mg/kg body weight
Ingest 0.8–1.6 g every 3–4 hr over an extended supplement time frame of 10–12 weeks
Example: if you weight 70 kg, then…
70 kg x 65 mg = 4550 mg
4550 mg / 1000 mg/g = 4.55 grams
Take ~1 gram 5 times per day every 3 hours (8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm)
Performance Impact:
Small but potentially meaningful performance benefits during both continuous and intermittent exercise tasks of 30 s to 10 min in duration
Note: some individuals taking beta-alanine supplementation experience an acute flushing and tingling sensation when ingesting the amount found in most pre-workouts.
Food sources: a cup of chicken breast or 3 oz. of turkey can provide you with nearly 2 grams of beta-alanine. Roasted soybeans or soy nuts contain nearly 3 grams of beta-alanine in each serving (about one cup).
4) Sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda)
Similar to beta-alanine, sodium bicarbonate also effects the buffering capacity of muscle to improve high-intensity exercise performance. Sodium bicarbonate acts as a blood buffer, which helps regulate the pH balance within cells. The increase in sodium bicarbonate outside of the cell helps to reduce proton (H+) accumulation in the exercising muscle.
Dose:
Single acute sodium bicarbonate dose of 0.2–0.4 g/kg body weight, consumed 60–150 min prior to exercise.
If someone weighed 70 kg, they would want to consume 14-28 g of sodium bicarbonate.
Combining sodium bicarbonate with creatine or beta-alanine may produce additive effects on exercise performance.
Performance Impact:
Improvement in muscular endurance activities, various combat sports, including boxing, judo, karate, taekwondo, and wrestling, and in high-intensity cycling, running, swimming, and rowing (Grgic et al. 2021)
Enhanced performance of short-term, high-intensity sprints lasting ∼60 s in duration
The effectiveness is reduced during activities lasting more than 10 minutes
Note: individuals describe GI distress associated with taking high doses of sodium bicarbonate.. Co-ingestion of a small carbohydrate-rich meal may reduce the GI distress (about 1.5 g carbohydrates per kg of body weight)
Citations:
Maughan RJ, Burke LM, Dvorak J, Larson-Meyer DE, Peeling P, Phillips SM, Rawson ES, Walsh NP, Garthe I, Geyer H, Meeusen R, van Loon LJC, Shirreffs SM, Spriet LL, Stuart M, Vernec A, Currell K, Ali VM, Budgett RG, Ljungqvist A, Mountjoy M, Pitsiladis YP, Soligard T, Erdener U, Engebretsen L. IOC consensus statement: dietary supplements and the high-performance athlete. Br J Sports Med. 2018 Apr;52(7):439-455. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2018-099027. Epub 2018 Mar 14. PMID: 29540367; PMCID: PMC5867441.
Grgic, J., Pedisic, Z., Saunders, B. et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: sodium bicarbonate and exercise performance. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 18, 61 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-021-00458-w
