The DOI matches its Crossref record; 44 of the 44 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Auditing the Representation of Female Versus Male Athletes in Sports Science and Sports Medicine Research: Evidence-Based Performance Supplements
Open accessAbstract
Although sports nutrition guidelines promote evidence-based practice, it is unclear whether women have been adequately included in the underpinning research. In view of the high usage rates of performance supplements by female athletes, we conducted a standardised audit of the literature supporting evidence-based products: β-alanine, caffeine, creatine, glycerol, nitrate/beetroot juice and sodium bicarbonate. Within 1826 studies totalling 34,889 participants, just 23% of participants were women, although 34% of studies included at least one woman. Across different supplements, 0–8% of studies investigated women exclusively, while fewer (0–2%) were specifically designed to compare sex-based responses. The annual publication of female-specific studies was ~8 times fewer than those investigating exclusively male cohorts. Interestingly, 15% of the female participants were classified as international/world-class athletes, compared with 7% of men. Most studies investigated performance outcomes but displayed poorer representation of women (16% of participants), whereas health-focussed studies had the greatest proportion of female participants (35%). Only 14% of studies including women attempted to define menstrual status, with only three studies (~0.5%) implementing best practice methodologies to assess menstrual status. New research should target the efficacy of performance supplements in female athletes, and future sports nutrition recommendations should specifically consider how well female athletes have contributed to the evidence-base.
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“Research on collegiate female athletes suggests that more than half (65.4%) are using either traditional (single and multivitamin/mineral supplements) or non-traditional (herbals, botanicals, and other biologic and nutrient) sports supplements at least one time per month [283].”
From International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutritional concerns of the female athlete (2023) · cites this paper as [283]
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Defining Training and Performance Caliber: A Participant Classification Framework
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BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationIOC Consensus Statement: Dietary Supplements and the High-performance Athlete
Maughan, R. J., Burke, L. M., Dvorak, J., Larson-Meyer, D. E., Peeling, P., Phillips, S. M., Rawson, E. S., Walsh, N. P., Garthe, I., Geyer, H., et al. (2018) · British Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1136/bjsports-2018-099027 · Cited by 1,004
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“[27]), silver/bronze (achieve some, but not all, methodological considerations), ungraded (menstrual status is defined, but methodological control is insufficient to award bronze/silver/gold) or unclassified (insufficient information to provide a robust classification of participants,”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationWhere are all the female participants in Sports and Exercise Medicine research?
Costello, J. T., Bieuzen, F., & Bleakley, C. M. (2014) · European Journal of Sport Science · doi:10.1080/17461391.2014.911354 · Cited by 599 · cited 1×
“There is no evidence that the attention drawn to this inequity in research participation [3] has yet translated to changes in practice, since the proportion of female-only studies published over the previous 5 and 10 years (0–7% and 0–8%, respectively) is similar to the overall time period.”
ResultIOC Consensus Statement: Dietary Supplements and the High-Performance Athlete
Maughan, R. J., Burke, L. M., Dvorak, J., Larson-Meyer, D. E., Peeling, P., Phillips, S. M., Rawson, E. S., Walsh, N. P., Garthe, I., Geyer, H., et al. (2018) · International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism · doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2018-0020 · Cited by 540 · cited 3×
“We chose the six performance supplements included in Category A of the Australian Institute of Sport Sports Supplement Framework [18] (β-alanine, caffeine, creatine, glycerol, nitrate/beetroot juice and sodium bicarbonate), described as “supplements with strong scientific evidence for use in specific situations in spo…”
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Cowley, E. S., Olenick, A. A., McNulty, K. L., & Ross, E. Z. (2021) · Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal · doi:10.1123/wspaj.2021-0028 · Cited by 449
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Athletes and Supplements: Prevalence and Perspectives
Garthe, I., & Maughan, R. J. (2018) · International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism · doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2017-0429 · Cited by 383 · cited 1×
“Surveys of high-level (national to Olympic) athletes typically report that 80–90% are supplement users, with women reporting a slightly higher prevalence of use when sexspecific patterns are reported [16].”
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Research works printed but not linked: 1
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Items 101–113 of 113
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InfluentialPapadakis, Z., & Stamatis, A. (2026) · Frontiers in Sports and Active Living · doi:10.3389/fspor.2026.1902953
“Moreover, a female collegiate rowing roster helps diversify the field’s empirical base (15, 42, 43, 101, 127), while positioning MT not as an isolated trait, but as a psychological resource embedded within social environments, consistent with Conservation of Resources theory’s concept of resource…”
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Besin Desteklerinde Güvenlik, Kontaminasyon ve Anti-Doping Risk Yönetimi
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Evidence Built on Men? Sports Drinks and Performance in Female Athletes: A Scoping ReviewPreprint
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Self-citationAussieker, T., Burke, L. M., Haudum, J., Hawley, J. A., Larson‐Meyer, D. E., Manore, M. M., Siegler, J. C., Stellingwerff, T., Vanhatalo, A., Zupančič, Ž., et al. (2026) · International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism · doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2026-0168
Self-citationPlacebo effects of caffeine on sport performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Hurst, P., Hanssen, J., Marticorena, F. M., Schiphof‐Godart, L., de Souza, H. L. R., Marocolo, M., & Saunders, B. (2026) · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · doi:10.1080/15502783.2026.2747142
“Although this could indicate that placebo effects may be more likely to occur in males than females, our data is limited by both the high risk of bias found across studies and the lack of females represented in our analyses, which is typical in the dietary supplement literature [80].”
Aktitiz, S., Güzel, Y., ATAKAN, M. M., Bulut, S., Karanfil, Y., JONES, A. M., & Turnagöl, H. H. (2026) · International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism · doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2026-0041
Metadata
- Authors
- Smith, E. S., McKay, A. K. A., Kuikman, M., Ackerman, K. E., Harris, R., Elliott-Sale, K. J., Stellingwerff, T., & Burke, L. M.
- Affiliations
- Australian Catholic University (AU)
- Boston Children's Hospital (US)
- Female Athlete Performance and Health Initiative, Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, ACT 2617, Australia
- Nottingham Trent University (GB)
- University of Victoria (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Smith, Ella S.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nutrients
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2022-02-23
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 953
- ISSN
- 2072-6643 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8912470
- OpenAlex
- W4213430488
- Cited by
- 113
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 4
- FWCI
- 17.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nutrients (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Nottingham Trent University's Institutional Repository (Nottingham Trent Repository) (acceptedVersion)
- e-space (Manchester Metropolitan University) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UVic’s Research and Learning Repository (University of Victoria) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Sex and Gender in Healthcare
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sports, Gender, and Society
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Keywords
- female athletes, sex differences in research, sports nutrition, gender representation in research, beta-alanine, caffeine, creatine, glycerol, nitrate, beetroot juice, sodium bicarbonate, menstrual status, evidence-based practice
- MeSH terms
- Female, Humans, Male, Sports, Sports Medicine, Nutrition Policy, Dietary Supplements, Athletes
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