A narrative review on the role of cognition, nutrition and energy availability in athletes of competitive sports to combat RED-S

Background In the present scenario, competitive sports require athletes to achieve a phenomenal balance between cognitive abilities, motor skills, nutritional intake, and energy deficiencies. Such stability would enable the athletes to excel in their sporting field. Evidence shows that athletes deve...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Subalatha M., Dhanush Rachaveti, Amutha S., Ponpandi M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2025-01-01
Series:PeerJ
Subjects:
Online Access:https://peerj.com/articles/18849.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832570607428960256
author Subalatha M.
Dhanush Rachaveti
Amutha S.
Ponpandi M.
author_facet Subalatha M.
Dhanush Rachaveti
Amutha S.
Ponpandi M.
author_sort Subalatha M.
collection DOAJ
description Background In the present scenario, competitive sports require athletes to achieve a phenomenal balance between cognitive abilities, motor skills, nutritional intake, and energy deficiencies. Such stability would enable the athletes to excel in their sporting field. Evidence shows that athletes develop specific cognitive abilities based on their sporting field. Nutrition is vital in creating an athlete’s cognitive ability and physical needs required to participate in competitive sports. The reduction in the intake of nutrients required before, after and during sports participation could result in relative energy deficiency in sports (RED-S), affecting the parts of the body. Methods The rationale behind the survey is to understand the role of nutrition and energy deficiency on the athletes’ cognitive abilities. The review’s research areas were identified as athletes’ cognition and nutrition in the context of RED-S. Search keywords were found based on the research area, such as “cognitive”, “nutrition”, and “energy deficiency/availability” in athletes. The search keywords were combined to form search queries (SQs). SQs were used to carry out the search on the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Results Sports play an important role in athletes’ cognitive abilities, such as decision-making, attention, memory, etc. Nutritional intakes, such as caffeinated, carbohydrate, alkaline, and protein-based supplements and diets, also significantly affect athletes’ cognitive and motor abilities. Low energy availability (LEA) causes cognitive and physical health problems in both female and male athletes. Conclusion The review identified that nutrition and LEA play crucial roles in athletes’ cognitive performance. Deficits in nutritional intake and energy availability lead to RED-S. Hence, cognitive performance could be used as an early indication to identify the nutritional and energy deficits in advance, enabling athletes to combat RED-S.
format Article
id doaj-art-ff675de262b9492d8184a566d1155ab5
institution Kabale University
issn 2167-8359
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher PeerJ Inc.
record_format Article
series PeerJ
spelling doaj-art-ff675de262b9492d8184a566d1155ab52025-02-02T15:05:22ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592025-01-0113e1884910.7717/peerj.18849A narrative review on the role of cognition, nutrition and energy availability in athletes of competitive sports to combat RED-SSubalatha M.0Dhanush Rachaveti1Amutha S.2Ponpandi M.3R&D, Heatechs Instruments, Chennai, Tamilnadu, IndiaSchool of Electronics Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology Chennai, Tamil Nadu, IndiaSchool of Computer Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology Chennai, Tamil Nadu, IndiaDepartment of Physical Education, Vellore Institute of Technology Chennai, Tamil Nadu, IndiaBackground In the present scenario, competitive sports require athletes to achieve a phenomenal balance between cognitive abilities, motor skills, nutritional intake, and energy deficiencies. Such stability would enable the athletes to excel in their sporting field. Evidence shows that athletes develop specific cognitive abilities based on their sporting field. Nutrition is vital in creating an athlete’s cognitive ability and physical needs required to participate in competitive sports. The reduction in the intake of nutrients required before, after and during sports participation could result in relative energy deficiency in sports (RED-S), affecting the parts of the body. Methods The rationale behind the survey is to understand the role of nutrition and energy deficiency on the athletes’ cognitive abilities. The review’s research areas were identified as athletes’ cognition and nutrition in the context of RED-S. Search keywords were found based on the research area, such as “cognitive”, “nutrition”, and “energy deficiency/availability” in athletes. The search keywords were combined to form search queries (SQs). SQs were used to carry out the search on the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Results Sports play an important role in athletes’ cognitive abilities, such as decision-making, attention, memory, etc. Nutritional intakes, such as caffeinated, carbohydrate, alkaline, and protein-based supplements and diets, also significantly affect athletes’ cognitive and motor abilities. Low energy availability (LEA) causes cognitive and physical health problems in both female and male athletes. Conclusion The review identified that nutrition and LEA play crucial roles in athletes’ cognitive performance. Deficits in nutritional intake and energy availability lead to RED-S. Hence, cognitive performance could be used as an early indication to identify the nutritional and energy deficits in advance, enabling athletes to combat RED-S.https://peerj.com/articles/18849.pdfCognition in athletesNutrition in athletesEnergy deficiency in athletesRED-SLow energy availability in athletes
spellingShingle Subalatha M.
Dhanush Rachaveti
Amutha S.
Ponpandi M.
A narrative review on the role of cognition, nutrition and energy availability in athletes of competitive sports to combat RED-S
PeerJ
Cognition in athletes
Nutrition in athletes
Energy deficiency in athletes
RED-S
Low energy availability in athletes
title A narrative review on the role of cognition, nutrition and energy availability in athletes of competitive sports to combat RED-S
title_full A narrative review on the role of cognition, nutrition and energy availability in athletes of competitive sports to combat RED-S
title_fullStr A narrative review on the role of cognition, nutrition and energy availability in athletes of competitive sports to combat RED-S
title_full_unstemmed A narrative review on the role of cognition, nutrition and energy availability in athletes of competitive sports to combat RED-S
title_short A narrative review on the role of cognition, nutrition and energy availability in athletes of competitive sports to combat RED-S
title_sort narrative review on the role of cognition nutrition and energy availability in athletes of competitive sports to combat red s
topic Cognition in athletes
Nutrition in athletes
Energy deficiency in athletes
RED-S
Low energy availability in athletes
url https://peerj.com/articles/18849.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT subalatham anarrativereviewontheroleofcognitionnutritionandenergyavailabilityinathletesofcompetitivesportstocombatreds
AT dhanushrachaveti anarrativereviewontheroleofcognitionnutritionandenergyavailabilityinathletesofcompetitivesportstocombatreds
AT amuthas anarrativereviewontheroleofcognitionnutritionandenergyavailabilityinathletesofcompetitivesportstocombatreds
AT ponpandim anarrativereviewontheroleofcognitionnutritionandenergyavailabilityinathletesofcompetitivesportstocombatreds
AT subalatham narrativereviewontheroleofcognitionnutritionandenergyavailabilityinathletesofcompetitivesportstocombatreds
AT dhanushrachaveti narrativereviewontheroleofcognitionnutritionandenergyavailabilityinathletesofcompetitivesportstocombatreds
AT amuthas narrativereviewontheroleofcognitionnutritionandenergyavailabilityinathletesofcompetitivesportstocombatreds
AT ponpandim narrativereviewontheroleofcognitionnutritionandenergyavailabilityinathletesofcompetitivesportstocombatreds