Could Prebiotics Be the Missing Link for Achieving Optimal Sporting Performance?

 Here at Bimuno^®, sports nutrition remains one of the most exciting areas of exploration in the prebiotic field. And the good news is – we don’t just mean elite sport. We also mean those juggling their day to day life whilst trying to fit in their daily exercise rituals.

A brand-new study conducted by Dr Neil Williams of Nottingham Trent University found that prebiotic GOS (the main ingredient of Bimuno) could in multiple ways play a fundamental role in training and playing availability.

“Nutrition has long been acknowledged as a crucial ingredient in sporting success but taking care of your gut – alongside a nutritionally optimised diet – should be a feature in every athlete’s health arsenal,” said Bimuno^® Research and Development Director, Dr Lucien Harthoorn.

“The relationship between prebiotics and athletic health is not yet fully understood, which underlines the significance of this new study. While the study focuses on top-flight rugby players, the findings of the study reveal core insights that apply to all levels of sport and physical activity, from recreational exercise to top-flight athletics.”

Previously, there haven’t been studies assessing the specific impact of prebiotic consumption for exercise performance. Still, there was a widely held assumption that athletes consuming prebiotics would experience it in the same way as non-athletes. One such impact is a potential improvement in the gut microbiome, which ultimately benefits the brain via the gut-brain axis and may hypothetically benefit cognitive function and help manage the stress response to exercise.

But a brand-new study revealed that prebiotic fibre GOS, a nutritional powerhouse that fuels good gut bacteria, could prove key to supporting sporting performance.

The study explored the effect of prebiotic supplements on elite rugby players from the Gallagher Premiership and used Bimuno^® GOS.

The research centered on supporting immune health and increasing availability for training and competitions, the findings show a new potential avenue in athletic health supplementation, delivered through better gut health.

Dr Neil Williams, study lead and Senior Lecturer in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition at Nottingham Trent University’s Department of Sport Science, comments: “This research provides interesting indications on how prebiotic Bimuno GOS, which nourishes beneficial bacteria, could be key in the future of sports nutrition product development.

“From the study results and the biomarkers we measured, we can see fascinating mechanisms at work. It’s important to note that with a prebiotic intervention, we are not putting up a ‘force field’ against illness or disease. We’re uncovering the important role of the gut microbiome, but studies such as this enable us to turn that understanding into action.”

“Bimuno GOS stands out in the market as the most studied ingredient of its kind,” added Dr Harthoorn. “It’s backed by over 110 published scientific studies, including more than 20 clinical trials”