Effects of Ketogenic Diet on Body Composition and Performance in Soccer Players

Antonio Paoli

Status: Completed

Conditions: Athletic Performance

Treatments: Other: ketogenic diet; Other: Western diet

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04078971

KDsoccer

Details and patient eligibility

About

A ketogenic diet (KD) is a nutritional approach, usually adopted for weight loss, that restricts daily carbohydrates under 30 g/day. KD showed contradictory results on sport performance, whilst no data are available on team sports. The investigators will investigate the influence of a KD on different parameters in soccer players

Full description

Sixteen semi-professional soccer players will be randomly assigned to a ketogenic diet (KD n=8) or to a western diet (WD n=8). Diets contain the same amount of protein (1.8g/Kg body weight/day). Body weight and body composition will be measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). Resting energy expenditure (REE), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), cross sectional area (CSA) and isometric muscle strength of quadriceps, counter movement jump (CMJ) and yoyo intermittent recovery test will be measured.

Enrollment: 16 patients

Sex: Male

Ages: 18 to 30 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• semiprofessional soccer players
• male

Exclusion Criteria:

• body fat percentage over 32%, (determined via dual energy X-ray absorptiometry DEXA),
• cardiovascular,
• respiratory, gastrointestinal,
• thyroid or any other metabolic diseases,
• weight change more than 2 Kg over the last month,
• adherence to special diets,
• use of nutritional supplements (except a daily multivitamin-mineral)
• use of medication to control blood lipids or glucose and goal-keepers.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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16 participants in 2 patient groups

Ketogenic diet

Experimental group

Description:

Ketogenic diet: less than 30 g/day of carbohydrate. Subjects can eat beef, veal, poultry, fish, raw and cooked vegetables without restriction, cold cuts such as dried beef, eggs and seasoned cheese (parmesan), ketogenic pasta (selected with a ketogenic ratio of 4:1), fruits with the lowest glycemic index (blueberry, raspberry), raw nuts and seeds, ghee butter, plant oils and fats from avocado, coconut and olives

Treatment:

Other: ketogenic diet

Western diet

Active Comparator group

Description:

The western diet (WD) is composed mainly of whole cereals (spelt, rye, oat) and pseudo-cereals (buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth), whole grain pasta, potatoes, meet, fish, vegetables, fruit, legumes, olive oil, milk and red wine (at most 1 glass per day). It ensure a constant energy and macronutrient balance: protein 1.8g x Kg-1 x body weight-1 x day-1, (30%), fats 20-25% and carbohydrate 50-55%.

Treatment:

Other: Western diet