Personalized Nutrition for the Enhancement of Elite Athletic Performance

Enhancing athletic performance through the manipulation of nutritional intake has ancient roots, with early guidance from “philosophical giants” like Hippocrates, who describes the balance between diet and exercise. Modern sports nutrition emerged in the 20th century, with research identifying carbohydrate (CHO) intake as beneficial for endurance. Studies like Gordon's in the 1920s linked blood glucose levels to marathon performance, while Cade's research in the 1960s on fluid and electrolyte intake led to the founding of Gatorade and the shift toward drinking during exercise to allegedly prevent dehydration and improve sporting performance. Today, sports nutrition is in a “holding pattern” after significant developments in the 1980s, 1990s, and the 2000s. A new era will involve personalized nutrition, but this development will require a game-changing injection of momentum, recognizing that athletes' responses to nutrition interventions vary widely. New technologies will also need to be developed and perfected, including wearables for real-time biometric monitoring (e.g., heart rate variability, glucose, and sweat composition and rate), which offer potential for tailored nutrition (i.e., diet and hydration) strategies. Applications of genetic and multi-omics technologies (like genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics, and epigenomics) are needed to unlock the potential of personalized sports nutrition by analyzing individual responses to factors such as sleep, nutrition, and exercise. The future lies in fast integration of all available data using next-generation bioinformatics and AI to generate personalized recommendations, with an emphasis on empirical evidence rather than solely commercial interests. As technology matures, sports (and exercise) nutrition will continue refining its practices but will need a paradigm shift to deliver precise interventions that may offer athletes the crucial edge needed to maximize performance while promoting short-term and long-term health.