Multi-ingredient protocols were tested in male professional football players over two weeks to see if varying dosages improved their performance, sprint times, reaction and fatigue.
Researchers in Poland and Spain observed promising results but noted that the findings are preliminary and the independent effects of each supplement need to be evaluated in future studies.
“Particularly noteworthy were the between-group differences in fatigue-related decline variables assessed during the post-intervention football-specific protocol,” they wrote in Nutrients, noting that because of their methodology, the results can’t be interpreted as evidence of improvement.
Performance aids in football
Football is a sport that places demands on both physical and mental output, demanding players sprint, make decisions, and change direction and tactics throughout the game. Studies show marked reductions in capacity in the second half of the game, making fatigue-related mechanisms particularly relevant in current research.
As a particularly well-studied ergogenic aid, caffeine may improve physical performance and fatigue during football. This is due to its effects on adenosine receptors, which ramp up the central nervous system and increase neurotransmitters.
Taurine is a naturally occurring amino acid derivative found in animal foods and synthesized within the human body from cysteine. Sports nutrition research has suggested that it supports energy, endurance, muscle recovery, and more recently, thermoregulation.
Phosphatidylserine is a phospholipid, a type of fatty substance, that is a key component of cell membranes throughout the human body. Its highest concentration is found in the brain, supporting the myelin sheath that protects neurons and assisting neurotransmitters like acetylcholine and dopamine. Because of this, evidence suggests it may be useful in sports for reaction times and processing speeds, but more research is needed to determine its independent effects.
Study details
Researchers randomly allocated 97 male professional football players aged 18–35 to one of four experimental groups. The groups received daily supplementation with taurine and caffeine (TC), taurine and caffeine and phosphatidylserine 300 mg/day (TCP), or taurine and caffeine and phosphatidylserine 600 mg/day (TCP), or placebo, for 14 days. Taurine and caffeine doses were 1500 mg·day and 200 mg/day, respectively.
The participants took the supplements approximately 60 min before a scheduled training session and approximately two hours after a meal.
Participants were evaluated at baseline and post-intervention. Following cognition and psychomotor assessments, they completed a 15-minute warm-up, sprint trials, and a 90-minute football-specific exercise protocol divided into two sessions separated by a standardized 3–4 min recovery interval. The football performance was assessed using GPS-derived variables and drone video footage.
“Under the present 14-day experimental conditions, the multi-ingredient protocols containing taurine, caffeine, and phosphatidylserine were associated with more favorable selected cognitive and psychomotor outcomes, 30 m sprint performance, and baseline-adjusted GPS-derived locomotor outcomes than placebo,” wrote the researchers.
They noted that in the football protocol, the groups also differed in post-intervention first-to-second-half performance loss. However, because they didn’t assess declining indices at baseline, they could not demonstrate that the intervention improved fatigue resistance.
They observed more favorable values with TCP-600, which were modest and not consistently statistically significant. They noted that the study was not powered to establish a dose-response effect.
“Because phosphatidylserine was not tested independently, these findings should be interpreted as responses to the combined multi-ingredient supplementation protocols rather than as effects of phosphatidylserine alone,” they wrote.
The researchers called for further studies to evaluate the individual effects of the supplements.
Source: Nutrients doi: 10.3390/nu18162588; “Football-Specific Performance and Cognitive Fatigue Resistance Following Supplementation with Two Phosphatidylserine Doses Combined with Taurine and Caffeine in Professional Male Football Players: A Randomized, Triple-Masked, Placebo-Controlled Trial.” Authors: K. Mizera et al.
