Monash University Nutrition & Exercise Clinic

02/12/2025

We are currently working with an industry partner in development the next-generation of sports nutrition products, stemming from our during exercise nutrition and recovery nutrition research outcomes. Following our sports nutrition product development paper Martinez et al., 2024 doi: org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e33497; we have completed the beverage and gel prototypes (different than what is available commercially), and we are entering the preliminary sensory analysis phase. We are looking for active individuals to visual/smell/taste/flavour/texture test the prototypes and complete our food & fluid sensory analysis tool. If you are interested or have athletes that would like to try these new prototypes, please contact me so we can arrange delivery and provide you with our sensory analysis tool (note: we have limited numbers available).

11/11/2025

Our prebiotic study publication has been shortlisted for the IJSNEM publication of the year award.

'The Effects of Prebiotic Supplementation on Markers of Exercise-Induced Gastrointestinal Syndrome in Response to Exertional Heat Stress’

If you liked our study and appreciate its contribution to the field, please vote.

07/08/2025

Our ‘Managing Gut Issues in Athletes’ workshop on Friday 14th November, before the Sports Dietitians Australia conference, has reached maximum capacity. However, due to continued interest we are deciding to put on another workshop session on Thursday 13th November 2025. Please let us know if you are interest via the EoI link below, so we can open up registration.

Workshop structure:
1) Aetiology and pathophysiology of gut issues in athletes.
2) Assessing gut issues in athletes.
3) Current prevention or management strategy evidence.
4) Athlete support pathways.
5) Laboratory practical session- gut assessment during exercise skills and techniques.

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30/07/2025

The video abstract for our prebiotic + gut + exercise lead research paper in this month's International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism issue is now available from the journal's homepage.

Key points:
-8 weeks of prebiotic supplementation (16g/day: soluble fiber from guar gum, inulin-type fructan, green banana and sweet potato resistant starch, and dairy based β-GOS) modestly attenuates exertional-heat stress associated perturbations to intestinal integrity (i.e., intestinal cell injury and lumen to circulatory pathogen translocation) compared with placebo.
-Prebiotic supplementation does not further impair gastrointestinal transit and/or exacerbate exertional-heat stress associated gastrointestinal symptoms or feeding tolerance compared with placebo.
-Prebiotic supplementation altered gut microbiota profile, which may account for some of the outcomes observed.

"International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism" published on by Human Kinetics.

07/07/2025

The Monash University Sports Dietetics research and practitioner team thank the International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism editorial team for selecting our research to be the lead articles for the May (Volume 35, Issue 3) and July (Volume 35, Issue 4) issues. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the sports nutrition / exercise physiology / sports medicine field's knowledge base and professional practice.

These research papers are available from the journal homepage. With Isabel providing a video summary of the gut-training study.

May lead article: Repetitive Feeding-Challenge With Different Nutritional Densities on Markers of Gastrointestinal Function, Substrate Oxidation, and Endurance Exercise Performance

July lead article: The Effects of Prebiotic Supplementation on Markers of Exercise-Induced Gastrointestinal Syndrome in Response to Exertional Heat Stress.

"International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism" published on by Human Kinetics.

09/04/2025

For several years, many practitioners and researchers have been asking when the Monash University Sports Dietetic and Extremes Physiology Research Group and collaborators will be publishing a paper on the prevention and manage of gut issues in athletes. This is in consideration that the team has contributed the most research/practice to understanding the pathophysiology, assessment methods, and prevention/management strategies regarding exercise associated gut issues in athletes. We have been working on this resource piece for practitioners and I am happy to announce it is now available on Sports Medicine.

Key points:
-Clinical and non-clinical manifestations of exercise-induced gastrointestinal syndrome (EIGS) and subsequent debilitating exercise-associated gastrointestinal symptoms (Ex-GIS) are a common feature of exercise adherence and are exacerbated by various extrinsic and
intrinsic factors.

-Macronutrient intake during exercise, maintenance of euhydration, dietary manipulations (i.e., FODMAP), and gut training have been shown to provide beneficial outcomes in EIGS and/or Ex-GIS management; while heat mitigating strategies and certain nutritional supplementation
(i.e., prebiotics and phenols) have shown promising outcomes, but other dietary manipulations and nutritional supplementation appear less favorable.

-Individual athlete assessment, to established main causal factors of EIGS and Ex-GIS, aids tailored and effective prevention or management strategies in translational practice.

-Supplementary file 1: Focuses on feeding tolerance factors to food/fluid intake during exercise.
-Supplementary file 2: Explores other contributing factors, including recovery nutrition.
-Supplementary file 3: Explores the translational practice into elite sports settings, clinical practice, and field medicine application.

A further practical guide in clinical assessment, specific gastrointestinal assessment during exercise, and informed athlete tailored intervention is currently in production for the next level of practitioner application- watch this space.

It is now well-established that exercise can disturb various aspects of gastrointestinal integrity and function. The pathophysiology of these perturbations, termed “exercise-induced gastrointestinal syndrome (EIGS),” can lead to exercise-associated gastrointestinal symptom (Ex-GIS) inconvenience...

22/01/2025

With the start of a new year, Dr Stephanie Gaskell and I have a few Sports Dietetics & Exercise Physiology PhD research projects on offer for suitable candidates:
- Exploring mechanical strain in the pathophysiology of gut issues in athletes.
- Comprehensive cooling strategies in managing gut issues in athletes exercising in the heat.
- Further investigation into nutritional strategies to mitigate gut issues in athletes.
Please contact us ([email protected]) if interested. Please also see our PhD research project weblinks for more details.

https://supervisorconnect.med.monash.edu/projects/prevention-and-management-strategies-exercise-induced-gastrointestinal-syndrome

18/10/2024

Great work Isabel Martinez for representing Monash University and the Sports Dietetic & Extremes Physiology team at the Sports Medicine Australia Conference this week.

Many congratulations on being awarded the early career best poster presentation award:

‘The effect of gut-training with fat or carbohydrate on feeding tolerance, carbohydrate malabsorption, gut symptoms, glucose availability, and fuel kinetics in endurance exercise.’

Full paper- watch this space.

14/09/2024

The Monash Uni Sports Dietitics and Extremes Physiology group working hard at the intellectual and baroque capital of the world (Vienna-Austria): International Society of Exercise Immunology Conference.

Presentations:
- Impact of ultra endurance exercise on youth athletes immune and gut status.
- gut microbiota changes in response to ultra marathon trail running (bacterial profile).
- impact of high carbohydrate with varied FODMAP content on gut microbiota (bacterial profile).

MANY CONGRATS to Pascale Young for being awarded the young investigators poster prize.

31/07/2024

Our newest review now published- lead by Dr Alan McCubbin, in Current Nutrition Reports, on a very impacting topic in recent scientific agendas.

Nourishing Physical Productivity and Performance On a Warming Planet ‑ Challenges and Nutritional Strategies to Mitigate Exertional Heat Stress.
Alan J. McCubbin, Christopher G. Irwin, Ricardo J. S. Costa

-Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and severity of exposure to hot environments. Impairing health, physical performance, and productivity for active individuals in occupational and athletic settings.
-This review summarizes current knowledge and recent advancements in nutritional strategies to minimize the impact of exertional-heat stress (EHS).
-Nutritional strategies can help regulate hydration, body temperature, and gastrointestinal status during EHS and mitigate potential EHS health issues-have a read to find out which ones.

Purpose of Review Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and severity of exposure to hot environments. This can impair health, physical performance, and productivity for active individuals in occupational and athletic settings. This review summarizes current knowledge and recent advan...

31/07/2024

Nice to see our A/Prof Ricardo Costa teaching on the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) sports nutrition webinar series.

'Managing Gut Issues in Athletes'- covers a summary of the current evidence of pathophysiology, assessment methods, professional practice pathways, and evidence-based prevention and management strategies (what works, what doesn't, and what is detrimental).

Presentation now available online for IOC students.

27/06/2024

Great work Isabel Martinez, and the Monash Uni Sports Dietetic & Extremes Physiology team, for putting together this great piece of work.

It is great to finally have this highly relevant to professional practice piece of food science work published- provides a guidance pathway for sports nutrition/dietetics practitioner to develop tailored product for the athletes they support. Considering there is no one-size-fits all approach in sports nutrition application, the future is growing into a personalised approach.

1) Availability and needs assessment, 2) recipe formulation, 3) product development, 4) product quality and assurance analysis, 5) sensory analysis, and 6) tolerance testing.

Highlights in the development pathway of a low fructose gel (focused on developing a product for athletes that can't tolerate and malabsorb fructose during exercise- Costa et al., 2017 APNM).

•Carbohydrate gels are a convenient fuelling option during exercise.

•Commercially-available gels with both glucose and fructose may not be well-tolerated by everyone.

•Quantification of sugars confirmed the actual content of the developed low-fructose gel.

•Assessment of blood glucose, malabsorption, and gut symptoms offer insights on individual tolerance.

•The developed low-fructose gel promotes fuel availability and was well-tolerated during running.

This study aimed to develop a low-fructose (< 3 g/serve) carbohydrate (CHO) gel for athletes. Various prototypes with 30 g CHO/serve and differing water content (12%, 21%, 32%, 39% w/v) were created and evaluated for sensory attributes. The final gel contained 62.1 ± 0.2 g CHO/100 g with 0.17% w/w ...