A systematic review and network meta-analysis recently published in Frontiers in Nutrition examined the effectiveness of various dietary supplements on athletic performance. The research focused on supplements like protein, creatine, beta-alanine, HMB, vitamin D and caffeine. The goal was to identify supplements that would offer the greatest benefit for athletes and help inform coaches and sports nutritionists when developing supplementation plans.
Methodology
The research team scanned databases from PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Embase and SPORTDiscus for RCTs evaluating the effects of dietary supplements on athletic performance.
Database searches yielded 9,711 records, of which 35 studies met the inclusion criteria and were entered into the network meta-analysis.
The 35 included RCTs that were published between 1999 and 2025 and included a combined total of 991 systematically trained athletes (83.9% male and 16.1% female) in both team and individual sports. These athletes completed strength and conditioning training in conjunction with various dietary supplements or a placebo. The mean age ranged from 17-30 years, with intervention durations ranging from 2-12 weeks.
Findings
After examining WADA-compliant supplement use combined with conditioning training on muscle strength, jump performance, sprint speed and muscle mass, the meta-analysis indicated that protein supplementation enhances muscular strength best, while beta-alanine and creatine significantly improve jump performance. Creatine showed the most advantage for accelerating 30-m sprint speed, but no supplement produced a significant muscle mass gain.
The research highlights the need for coaches and sports-nutrition practitioners to tailor supplementation protocols to sport-specific demands and individual athlete characteristics. The researchers note that prioritizing high-quality protein intake during training phases is crucial for strength maximization.
Creatine and beta-alanine are effective for high-intensity actions like jumping, while creatine is more advantageous for rapid energy release and acceleration in sprinting and other phosphocreatine-dependent efforts.
In hybrid sports requiring concurrent strength and power, baseline protein intake should be secured before combining beta-alanine with creatine.
Nutritional interventions should be integrated within a periodized training framework and adjusted based on periodic monitoring to maximize synergy and athlete safety.
Limitations
With just 160 females vs 831 males, the researchers did acknowledge that gender imbalance limited the generalizability of findings to female athletes.
They also added that there was a limited number of small-scale RCTs that evaluated supplements such as HMB and vitamin D, weakening the stability of indirect comparisons and contributing to uncertainty in the network estimates.
“Future studies should adopt standardized supplementation and training protocols, harmonize measurement techniques, balance sex representation and employ longer follow-ups to enhance the reliability and applicability of the evidence,” the authors said.
Source: Frontiers in Nutrition, doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1636970 “Effects of different dietary supplements combined with conditioning training on muscle strength, jump performance, sprint speed, and muscle mass in athletes: a systematic review and network meta-analysis,” Authors B. Deng, et al.
