Any scientific research that proves a healthy diet improves performance?

No. But there will be many that show causation.

Depends on which science you read, believe, and follow.

pacemasker wrote:

It seems to be accepted wisdom that a runner should have a healthy diet to optimize performance. But has this ever been proven? Any scientific studies? I know plenty of fast runners who eat a junk food diet. If the furnace is hot enough, won’t anything burn?

It's probably impossible to prove. To many variables.

But what I can tell you, if you eat health your whole life you will age a lot better.

Being a vegetarian for 29 years now and now I harvest my lifelong investment in healthy food. Two years ago I had a health check up and the Doctor said that he sees somebody as healthy as me maybe once a month. The nurse could not believe that I don't need any pills. I am 56 now.

So yeah, you can get away with a lot of crap and run fast. But it will get you later in life.

Learn to cook most of your meals yourself and read up a little bit about nutrition.

You will thank me in 30 years.

All I know is that the athletes that I coach with a good diet and sleep are far more durable and can handle more training on average.

For it to be a real scientific study, it would have to be at least a 10 year long one.

Yes. Anything will burn. Over time however, poor nutrition will cause more inflammation and deteriorated bone & connective tissue all resulting in greater risk of injury and generally poorer health.

Garbage in garbage out

Eat more veggies wrote:

It's probably impossible to prove. To many variables.

But what I can tell you, if you eat health your whole life you will age a lot better.

Being a vegetarian for 29 years now and now I harvest my lifelong investment in healthy food. Two years ago I had a health check up and the Doctor said that he sees somebody as healthy as me maybe once a month. The nurse could not believe that I don't need any pills. I am 56 now..

When I hear this from someone, they always look emaciated and have funny skin and temperaments. I’ve seen more vegetarians/vegans who were done competing/perma-injured by their 40s, as compared to meat eaters. Muscle loss is a huge factor for health with age. You’re simply not going to get enough quality protein from a vegetarian/vegan diet to help maintain muscle mass. Sure, you need lots of veggies and fruit, but the macro and micronutrients from meat that are beneficial with age can’t be ignored.

1) scientific studies prove nothing.

2) what is a healthy diet for a runner is usually very different from what is healthy for the average person.

A number of factors contribute to success in sport, and diet is a key component. An athlete’s dietary requirements depend on several aspects, including the sport, the athlete’s goals, the environment, and practical issues.

Do you really need peer-reviewed research to believe that those extra pounds of fat would slow you down? It's much easier to keep a healthy weight on a healthy diet.

If your furnace is hot enough and you can outrun a junk food diet calorie-wise, it would take some very massive research to show performance difference while you're in your 20s or 30s. The increased risks of cancer and heart disease and stuff like that as you age are quite well proven. If you would allow me a slight hyperbole, your performance becomes pathetically low when you're dead.

I don't think healthy diet would matter much for someone with career prospects of an elite runner. It's generally not a healthy lifestyle and getting older would hurt anyway. You can probably eat anything as long as it doesn't hinder your performance short-term.

Healthy is kind of weird, because there is no "optimal diet."

Here are some things that would be "healthy" for a runner and does have scientific data backing it open.

1. You have to eat enough (calories)

2. Eating at the right time (delaying food intake post workout delays the recovery process)

3. Getting enough complex and simple carbs, complete proteins, and the right fats (saturated vs unsaturated)

4. Drinking enough water (helps with cellular function and soreness)

5. Eating foods high in antioxidants (helps with the recovery process)

6. Avoiding sugar and preservatives (lots of scientific evidence showing that this inhibits the bodies ability to heal itself and recover, also can cause inflammation)

I think those are some pretty simple principles that would most assuredly produce an increase in performance. Are there most exact diets that would produce better results? Sure. But you would probably get 90% of the same benefits from just doing what is listed above. Plus you wouldn't have to without to overthink or over restrict yourself. Eating should not be a chore

A healthy diet always improves performance, so long as you operationally define "health" in terms of performance. Additionally, you can prove 'health via performance' by using the contrapositive: poor performance explained by the toxins you ate, whereby "healthy diet" means "non-toxic". It is common to define something in term of its opposite.

No. As long as your body gets what it needs you'll be fine.

Impala31 wrote:

1) scientific studies prove nothing.

2) what is a healthy diet for a runner is usually very different from what is healthy for the average person.

What would you say DOES prove something?

Or is it simply the case that nobody knows anything about anything?

pacemasker wrote:

It seems to be accepted wisdom that a runner should have a healthy diet to optimize performance. But has this ever been proven? Any scientific studies? I know plenty of fast runners who eat a junk food diet. If the furnace is hot enough, won’t anything burn?

Seriously? What is your definition of "fast runners"? Truly "Fast" runners don't eat a lot of junk food.

"Go Run One"

pacemasker wrote:

It seems to be accepted wisdom that a runner should have a healthy diet to optimize performance. But has this ever been proven? Any scientific studies? I know plenty of fast runners who eat a junk food diet. If the furnace is hot enough, won’t anything burn?

1. Yes it had been proven.

2. There’s been multiple studies showing the effect of diet on performance(google them)

Plenty of idiots on this forum so let’s make it easy for them : look at the best runners in your nation and what they eat. Not a good club runner - the best runners.

Timetocomeback wrote:

pacemasker wrote:

It seems to be accepted wisdom that a runner should have a healthy diet to optimize performance. But has this ever been proven? Any scientific studies? I know plenty of fast runners who eat a junk food diet. If the furnace is hot enough, won’t anything burn?

1. Yes it had been proven.

2. There’s been multiple studies showing the effect of diet on performance(google them)

Plenty of idiots on this forum so let’s make it easy for them : look at the best runners in your nation and what they eat. Not a good club runner - the best runners.

+1

I don’t think anyone here has ever bothered to talk to a sports dietitian. Of course it matters what you eat, both for health and performance.

All of this nutritional knowledge and guys wearing pogo shoes have trouble running as fast as Bill Rodgers and Steve Jones.

Dope Hardstrong wrote:

No. As long as your body gets what it needs you'll be fine.

If your body is getting what it needs, isn't that almost literally the definition of a healthy diet?

Science. The new religion. You pick and choose. The biggest flaw in science is man