Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT04078971

Effects of Ketogenic Diet on Body Composition and Performance in Soccer Players

A ketogenic diet (KD) is a nutritional approach, usually adopted for weight loss, that restricts daily carbohydrates under 30 g/day. KD showed contradictory results on sport performance, whilst no data are available on team sports. The investigators will investigate the influence of a KD on different parameters in soccer players

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Athletic Performance

Age range

18 year–30 year

Sex eligibility

Male

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Nutrition and Exercise Lab, DSB, University of Padova

Padova, 35131, Italy

About this study

Sixteen semi-professional soccer players will be randomly assigned to a ketogenic diet (KD n=8) or to a western diet (WD n=8). Diets contain the same amount of protein (1.8g/Kg body weight/day). Body weight and body composition will be measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). Resting energy expenditure (REE), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), cross sectional area (CSA) and isometric muscle strength of quadriceps, counter movement jump (CMJ) and yoyo intermittent recovery test will be measured.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • semiprofessional soccer players
  • male

Exclusion criteria

  • body fat percentage over 32%, (determined via dual energy X-ray absorptiometry DEXA),
  • cardiovascular,
  • respiratory, gastrointestinal,
  • thyroid or any other metabolic diseases,
  • weight change more than 2 Kg over the last month,
  • adherence to special diets,
  • use of nutritional supplements (except a daily multivitamin-mineral)
  • use of medication to control blood lipids or glucose and goal-keepers.

Treatment and study plan

Western Diet

Other

Subjects in this intervention will follow a normal western diet

Ketogenic diet

Other

Subjects in this group will follow a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet

Primary outcomes

  1. Fat body mass

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    Body composition with DEXA: we measure body fat mass in grams.

  2. lean body mass

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    Body composition with DEXA: we measure lean body mass in grams.

  3. Visceral Adipose tissue (VAT)

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    Body composition with DEXA: VAT in grams

  4. Total body water

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    We will use a BIA to calculate totally body water and intracellular and extracellular water in liters

Secondary outcomes

  1. resting energy expenditure (REE)

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    Measured through gas analyzer in ml/02/kg min

  2. respiratory ratio (RR)

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    Measured through gas analyses (ratio between CO2 and O2)

  3. specific performance

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    Yoyo intermittent recovery test level 1: in seconds

  4. lower limb power

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    squat jump test: height of the jump in cm

  5. quadriceps muscle area

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    muscle area measured in cm2 through ultrasound

  6. quadriceps muscle thickness

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    muscle thickness measured cm through ultrasound

  7. quadriceps strength

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    isometric contraction measured in N, the normalized per muscle area (N x cm2)

  8. quadriceps strength per area

    Time frame: 4 weeks

    the strength of isometric contraction (outcome 10) normalized per muscle area (Outcome 7). Expressed as (N x cm2)

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Antonio Paoli

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Effects of a Very Low Carbohydrate Ketogenic Diet on Body Composition, Muscle Strength, Muscle Area, Metabolism and Performance in Semi-professional Soccer Players

Important dates

Study start
2018
Primary completion
2018
Study completion
2018
First posted
Sep 6, 2019
Registry last updated
Sep 6, 2019

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.