#supplements

Articles tagged: supplements

9 articles

Caffeine gum: 25 studies, an effect size of 0.195 and exactly zero in people who already drink a lot of coffee

Caffeine gum is leaving its military niche and moving into running, and interest in it keeps growing. A meta-analysis published in September 2026 gathered 25 studies and 390 participants: the gain is real, it is statistically significant and it is also tiny. And in some people it is absent altogether — we look at who exactly, and at why you have to chew for ten minutes.

nutrition supplements science

Ekaterina Gromova•Sep 21, 2026

SARMs in recreational athletes: a five-year ban for three substances, and only 52% of products that contain what the label says

On 11 September 2026 USADA handed a five-year ban to a 49-year-old recreational triathlete: a sample taken at an ordinary city race contained ostarine, ligandrol and exogenous testosterone. A good moment to work out what SARMs are, why nobody has ever shown an effect of theirs on endurance, and how they end up inside people who never deliberately took anything.

supplements health science

Maxim Belyaev•Sep 21, 2026

Carnosine: 299 participants, 12 weeks at 2 grams a day and two significant results out of 126 comparisons

Carnosine is a dipeptide that buffers acid in muscle; it and beta-alanine are sold as supplements to fight “acid build-up”. The largest RCT to date (JISSN, 2026) found no difference from placebo in any of seven tests across the whole group. An effect surfaced in only two subgroups. We explain why that is weaker than it sounds, and what beta-alanine does that carnosine does not.

nutrition supplements science

Ekaterina Gromova•Sep 14, 2026

Paraxanthine instead of caffeine: what 14 rowers and 12 runners revealed about the “clean stimulant” made from a coffee metabolite

The liver turns about 70% of caffeine into paraxanthine, and now it is sold on its own — as a stimulant without the insomnia and jitters. In a 2026 RCT in rowers, paraxanthine by itself did not speed up a 2000 m test, and in a 2024 study of a 10 km run it did not change finishing time at all. It disrupted sleep after an evening session less — but that was measured with a questionnaire.

nutrition supplements science

Andrey Leskov•Sep 14, 2026

Cordyceps: 100,000 searches a month, four placebo-controlled studies and not a single race it made faster

A fungus that grows out of caterpillars is sold as “natural EPO”. A fresh 2026 RCT: 1 g of extract, 12 men, post-exercise reaction time 70 ms faster — and no effect at all on peak oxygen uptake. We go through everything that has been tested in humans, from trained cyclists to pensioners.

nutrition supplements science

Olga Marchenko•Sep 7, 2026

Creatine and hair loss: one 2009 experiment on rugby players versus a 12-week RCT with trichoscopy

The whole fear grew out of a single study: 20 rugby players, DHT +56% after a week of loading. Nobody counted any hair. Sixteen years later it was finally counted directly — 38 men, 5 g a day, a trichogram and FotoFinder. No difference from placebo, either in DHT or in hair density.

nutrition supplements health

Anna Severova•Sep 7, 2026

Urolithin A: 42 elite runners, “mitophagy” and a 3 km time trial that got no faster

The supplement is sold as a way to renew your mitochondria. In a double-blind trial on 42 high-level runners VO₂max rose by 5.4% versus 3.6% on placebo — but the statistics found no difference between the groups, and nobody's 3 km time improved.

running nutrition supplements

Anna Severova•Sep 1, 2026

The all-in-one powder: 75 ingredients in 12 grams and what of it is proven

The maker of AG1 funded a study on 16 people and showed that the vitamins from the powder really do reach the bloodstream. That is true — and it is not the same thing as “it works”. The arithmetic of a serving explains why the plant part of the formula is almost inevitably underdosed.

nutrition supplements science

Dmitry Volkov•Aug 24, 2026

Mouthwash switches off beetroot juice: the tongue bacteria nobody thinks about

The nitrate from beetroot is turned into nitric oxide not by your body but by the bacteria on the back of your tongue. A chlorhexidine mouthwash abolishes that conversion in saliva completely and sharply blunts the rise of nitrite in the blood. Humans have no enzyme of their own for this reaction.

nutrition supplements science

Maxim Belyaev•Aug 24, 2026

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