The Games begin on 23 July, with a program featuring athletics, swimming, gymnastics, boxing, judo, netball, bowls, track cycling, weightlifting and 3x3 basketball, with medal events for both able-bodied and para athletes.
Vicky Newbold, performance nutritionist specializing in elite sport, told NutraIngredients that targeted nutrition will be key to maintaining performance throughout the competition.
“For most athletes competing at something like the Games, at that level of competition, they should all have an individualized strategy,” she said.
“The key principles might be consistent within a particular sport, or within a discipline in athletics, or, for example, have particular grams-per-kilo body mass guidelines for macronutrients. But how an athlete actually executes that should be individualized.”
Travel creates nutrition challenges for elite athletes
The Commonwealth Games brings together athletes from 56 Commonwealth member countries and territories, spanning Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, the Americas and the Pacific, and as Newbold explained, travel can have a huge impact on how athletes access, plan and execute their nutrition strategies throughout the competition period.
“Supplements and certain nutrition products are probably the easiest things to transport, but you can’t meal prep and bring your entire food supply with you,” she said. “It just isn’t realistic.”
The athletes, who span multiple sports, disciplines and cultural backgrounds, will therefore rely on the host country’s catering and nutrition team to provide suitable race-day food options and support their performance needs.
“You’re catering for gymnasts, rowers, cyclists, sprinters, judokas and many other sports, but also athletes coming from countries all over the world. Everyone has different familiar foods, and athletes want foods that they know and are comfortable with.”
Individual preferences, competition schedules, multiple sports and heats running back to back add another layer of complexity.
“Athletes are always on a schedule. They’ll have training at a certain time, and on competition day there is usually a very tightly planned routine,” she said.
“Nutrition timing is everything — you plan your meals around your event and when you need to perform.
“It’s really important that the games environment dining facilitates that and avoids long queues, delays and food running out as that can become a real challenge.”
Chasing the extra 1%
Outside of the catering, Newbold highlighted that elite athletes are increasingly turning to targeted nutrition strategies to gain marginal improvements in performance and recovery.
“The supplements that are probably most common and most talked about would be omega-3s, tart cherry and turmeric,” Newbold said. “The evidence varies between them, but where there’s no downside and they can be used safely, athletes may choose to include them as part of their overall strategy.”
Omega-3 fatty acids remain a key focus in sports nutrition due to their potential role in supporting recovery, managing exercise-related inflammation and maintaining overall health.
Montmorency tart cherry has gained attention in sports nutrition due to its polyphenol content, with research exploring its potential role in supporting muscle recovery, reducing exercise-induced soreness and improving sleep quality.
Turmeric, specifically its curcuminoid compound, is another ingredient gaining attention in sports nutrition for its potential role in supporting recovery, managing exercise-induced inflammation and reducing muscle soreness.
“When you’re dealing with elite athletes at the highest level of competition, they’re often looking for that extra one per cent,” Newbold said.
Keeping nutrition advice simple improves performance
Newbold noted that while micronutrients remain important, elite athletes should not become overly focused on tracking individual nutrients; instead, they should prioritize overall diet quality, consistency and simple, sustainable nutrition habits.
“If you take a step back, athletes receive huge amounts of information and coaching around strength and conditioning, psychology, technical skills, tactics and medical support. Nutrition is just one part of that. You don’t want an athlete looking at a buffet thinking, ‘Have I got enough vitamin K? Enough vitamin A? Enough zinc?’ That’s not practical.”
She explained that the role of the nutrition team is to support athletes by providing simple, practical messaging that delivers maximum impact.
“It’s much easier for athletes to remember simple messages: eat enough fruit and vegetables, get lots of colors onto the plate, and vary your carbohydrate and protein sources,” Newbold said.
“That naturally helps athletes consume a wide range of vitamins, minerals and other beneficial compounds.”
She noted that polyphenol-rich foods such as berries and cherries are especially important as part of an athlete’s wider recovery strategy, as these foods can help support recovery by reducing some markers associated with muscle soreness and inflammation.
“It’s about helping them meet their nutrition needs without having to over analyse every nutrient.. The benefit of those simple messages is that they’re easier to implement and easier to turn into habits.”
Post-competition recovery
The games finish on Aug. 2, 2026, and following that, recovery will be of the utmost importance, Newbold noted, explaining that effective recovery combines re-hydration, refueling and rest.
“Re-hydration is fundamental for recovery. Replacing any sweat losses is really important, although it varies hugely between athletes and sports,” she said. “It also has to be individualized because everyone has different sweat rates and different levels of electrolyte loss.”
Furthermore, protein intake is essential for recovery, she said. Protein provides the amino acids required to repair and rebuild damaged muscle fibers, stimulate muscle protein synthesis, support training adaptations and the maintenance of lean muscle mass, and contributes to immune function and the repair of connective tissues following exercise.
Newbold also noted an increased interest in sleep supplementation, saying that it is important to consider sleep, mindset and switching off when it comes to allowing the body to recover.
“There has definitely been growth in the market for sleep-support supplements,” she said. “A lot of newer products are blended supplements containing ingredients such as magnesium, Montmorency tart cherry, L-theanine or ashwagandha.”
