Abstract
A number of nutrients, foods, and supplements have the potential to augment health, exercise performance, and/ or recovery, particularly in women, due to the fluctuation of sex hormones, or reductions thereof. Some of these for which significant amounts of research have provided evidence include:
Carbohydrate (CHO) loading can overcome lower resting muscle glycogen in the follicular phase but an increase in total energy intake may be required.Pre-exercise feeding and/or CHO ingestion can negate the estrogen-induced reduction in gluconeogenesis during endurance exercise.Increased protein during recovery may help offset the increase in protein catabolism in the luteal phase.Special attention to not overhydrating and replacing sodium losses in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle may help reduce the increased risk of hyponatremia that is due to differences in fluid and electrolyte handling and thirst in this phase.Supplementing with dietary sources of antioxidants may be prudent in those with amenorrhea or in menopause and, thus, low estrogen, as estrogen enhances the antioxidant capacity. However, this may not fully compensate for the lack of estrogen.Fish oil (omega-3 fatty acid source) may aid in inflammatory disorders such as dysmenorrhea and those associated with menopause.Vitamin D and calcium influence fertility, possibly dysmenorrhea, as well as bone health; however, supplementation cannot fully compensate for the lack of estrogen.Branched-chain amino acid oxidation may be greater when estrogen is low; this may have dietary implications for those with amenorrhea or in menopause, particularly when training regularly and or on low energy diets.Pre- and probiotics have the potential to help with dysmenorrhea and menopause as well as bone health; however, a healthy microbiota is largely influenced by the diet as a whole.
In general, it is acknowledged that the dietary matrix is important to the effects of specific dietary components and that supplementing with a single component rarely achieves the same outcome as when eating a complement of foods, containing myriad phytochemicals and nutrients.