Selected IOPN Publications
Bridging the Gap: Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines for Sports Nutritionists
Journal: Frontiers in Nutrition
Alex J. Ritson (1), Mark A. Hearris (1, 2), and Laurent G. Bannock (1)
1) The Institute of Performance Nutrition, United Kingdom; 2) Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
Date published: March, 2023
Evidence-based practice is a systematic approach to decision-making developed in the 1990s to help healthcare professionals identify and use the best available evidence to guide clinical practice and patient outcomes amid a plethora of information in often challenging, time-constrained circumstances. Today’s sports nutrition practitioners face similar challenges, as they must assess and judge the quality of evidence and its appropriateness to their athlete, in the often chaotic, time-pressed environment of professional sport. To this end, we present an adapted version of the evidence-based framework to support practitioners in navigating their way through the deluge of available information and guide their recommendations to athletes whilst also reflecting on their practice experience and skills as evidence-based practitioners, thus, helping to bridge the gap between science and practice in sport and exercise nutrition.
Making Sense of Muscle Protein Synthesis: A Focus on Muscle Growth During Resistance Training
Journal: International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism
Oliver C. Witard (1), Laurent Bannock (2), and Kevin D. Tipton (3)
1) Centre for Human & Applied Physiological Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom;
2) The Institute of Performance Nutrition, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; 3) Liverpool John Moores University,
Liverpool, United Kingdom
Date published: October 2021
The acute response of muscle protein synthesis (MPS) to resistance exercise and nutrition is often used to inform recommendations for exercise programming and dietary interventions, particularly protein nutrition, to support and enhance muscle growth with training. Those recommendations are worthwhile only if there is a predictive relationship between the acute response of MPS and subsequent muscle hypertrophy during resistance exercise training. The metabolic basis for muscle hypertrophy is the dynamic balance between the synthesis and degradation of myofibrillar proteins in muscle. There is ample evidence that the process of MPS is much more responsive to exercise and nutrition interventions than muscle protein breakdown. Thus, it is intuitively satisfying to translate the acute changes in MPS to muscle hypertrophy with training over a longer time frame. Our aim is to examine and critically evaluate the strength and nature of this relationship. Moreover, we examine the methodological and physiological factors related to measurement of MPS and changes in muscle hypertrophy that contribute to uncertainty regarding this relationship. Finally, we attempt to offer recommendations for practical and contextually relevant application of the information available from studies of the acute response of MPS to optimize muscle hypertrophy with training.
