Bodybuilding has increasingly become popular between males since male body shape has become a subject of interest in the last decades. Bodybuilders have desired to gain more muscle and paid attention to their body shape. Based on this purpose, they have string rules that include restrictive eating and excessive exercise program. Recent research has demonstrated that desiring more muscular body shape exhibits eating behavior problems and body dissatisfaction issues in bodybuilders. Limited research exists on the relationship between body dissatisfaction and eating disorders in male bodybuilders. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between body image disturbance and eating disorders in 120 male bodybuilders. The Eating Attitude Test (EAT-40) was used to determine eating disorders, the Muscle Dysmorphia Disorder Inventory was used to determine bigorexia symptoms, and Bodybuilder Image Grid-Original (BIG O) and Scaled (BIG S) forms were used to detect the factors associated with body dissatisfaction. There was a positive relationship between Eating Attitude Test and Muscle Dysmorphia Disorder Inventory total scores. Eating Attitude Test was positively correlated with both fat and muscle dissatisfaction. Our results indicated that eating disorder psychopathology is positively related to body dissatisfaction and body dysmorphic disorders in male bodybuilders.

Objective: We investigated emotional eating behaviours and perceived stress during COVID-19 partial quarantine according to BMI levels in healthy adults.Design: Cross-sectional study.Setting: An online survey including demographic variables, eating attitude-related questions, Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ) and Perceived Stress Scale-14 (PSS-14) was sent via online data collection platform. Self-reported weight, height and weight changes during the quarantine were also collected.Participants: A total of 506 people aged between 20–65 years who were partially quarantined due to COVID-19 participated in this study.Results: BMI was positively correlated with EEQ (r 0 ·205, P = 0·001). However, BMI was negatively linked with PSS-14 during COVID-19 (r -0·125, P = 0·001), indicating that participants with lower BMI had higher perceived stress during COVID-19. Participants gained weight during the lockdown situation (+1·20 ± 1·70 kg in men; +0·91 ± 1·40 kg in women). EEQ and PSS-14 scores of women found to be significantly higher than men (9·39 ± 5·37 in men v. 11·17 ± 5·85 in women for EEQ; 24·67 ± 8·32 in men v. 27·99 ± 7·34 in women for PSS-14). Obese participants consumed sweetened and carbonated drinks two-fold more in those compared with other participants.Conclusion: These findings suggest that partial quarantine may be closely related to emotional eating and weight gain, and participants with higher BMI showed more emotional eating behaviours. Therefore, certain precautions should be considered beforehand in order not to cause long-term eating disorder problems.

Background: Protein supplements are important to maintain optimum health and physical performance, particularly in athletes and active individuals to repair and rebuild their skeletal muscles and connective tissues. Soy protein (SP) has gained popularity in recent years as an alternative to animal proteins. Objectives: This systematic review evaluates the evidence from randomised controlled clinical trials of the effects of SP supplementation in active individuals and athletes in terms of muscle adaptations, metabolic and antioxidant status, hormonal response and exercise performance. It also explores the differences in SP supplementation effects in comparison to whey protein. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase and Web of Science, as well as a manual search in Google Scholar and EBSCO, on 27 June 2023. Randomised controlled trials that evaluated the applications of SPs supplementation on sports and athletic-related outcomes that are linked with exercise performance, adaptations and biomarkers in athletes and physically active adolescents and young adults (14 to 39 years old) were included, otherwise, studies were excluded. The risk of bias was assessed according to Cochrane’s revised risk of bias tool. Results: A total of 19 eligible original research articles were included that investigated the effect of SP supplementation on muscle adaptations (n = 9), metabolic and antioxidant status (n = 6), hormonal response (n = 6) and exercise performance (n = 6). Some studies investigated more than one effect. SP was found to provide identical increases in lean mass compared to whey in some studies. SP consumption promoted the reduction of exercise-induced metabolic/blood circulating biomarkers such as triglycerides, uric acid and lactate. Better antioxidant capacity against oxidative stress has been seen with respect to whey protein in long-term studies. Some studies reported testosterone and cortisol fluctuations related to SP; however, more research is required. All studies on SP and endurance performance suggested the potential beneficial effects of SP supplementation (10–53.3 g) on exercise performance by improving high-intensity and high-speed running performance, enhancing maximal cardiac output, delaying fatigue and improving isometric muscle strength, improving endurance in recreational cyclists, increasing running velocity and decreasing accumulated lactate levels; however, studies determining the efficacy of soy protein on VO₂max provided conflicted results. Conclusion: It is possible to recommend SP to athletes and active individuals in place of conventional protein supplements by assessing their dosage and effectiveness in relation to different types of training. SP may enhance lean mass compared with other protein sources, enhance the antioxidant status, and reduce oxidative stress. SP supplementation had an inconsistent effect on testosterone and cortisol levels. SP supplementation may be beneficial, especially after muscle damage, high-intensity/high-speed or repeated bouts of strenuous exercise.

Endurance athletes need a regular and well-detailed nutrition program in order to fill their energy stores before training/racing, to provide nutritional support that will allow them to endure the harsh conditions during training/race, and to provide effective recovery after training/racing. Since exercise-related gastrointestinal symptoms can significantly affect performance, they also need to develop strategies to address these issues. All these factors force endurance athletes to constantly seek a better nutritional strategy. Therefore, several new dietary approaches have gained interest among endurance athletes in recent decades. This review provides a current perspective to five popular diet approaches: (a) vegetarian diets, (b) high-fat diets, (c) intermittent fasting diets, (d) gluten-free diet, and (e) low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols (FODMAP) diets. We reviewed scientific studies published from 1983 to January 2021 investigating the impact of these popular diets on the endurance performance and health aspects of endurance athletes. We also discuss all the beneficial and harmful aspects of these diets, and offer key suggestions for endurance athletes to consider when following these diets.

Background: Although bigorexia symptoms are rapidly increasing, it is mostly an underrecognized condition in Turkish male bodybuilders. There are no validated screening tools to identify the symptoms. Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the validity of the Turkish version of the MDDI and the BIG towards the diagnosis of bigorexia and to provide health care professionals with early screening tools. Methods: One hundred twenty male bodybuilders, fifty-eight professional bodybuilders and sixtytwo recreational bodybuilders, all of whom matched the research criteria, were included in this study. MDDI and BIG forms were filled by the bodybuilders, along with an “Individual Characteristic Information Form”, a “Nutrition-related Information Form”, and a “Bodybuilding-related Information Form”. To evaluate the construct validity, factor analysis was conducted and resulted in a threefactor construct. Results: The factor-loading values ranged from 0.542- 0.827. Calculations of Cronbach’s alpha for the MDDI sum (α = 0.657) revealed a good internal consistency. The MDDI, BIG O, and BIG S intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were found to be 0.840, 0.908, and 0.879, respectively. As a result, MDDI had acceptable reliability and that of BIG O and BIG S was excellent. Discussion: Turkish MDDI, BIG-O and BIG-S forms proved to be valid and reliable scales and were adequate for determining the symptoms of bigorexia in male bodybuilders. Using these forms, there was a statistically significant relationship between bigorexia and eating disorders, which were significantly positively correlated. Conclusion: Our results support the feasibility of using the MDDI, the BIG-O, and the BIG-S forms to determine symptoms of bigorexia in Turkish population. Further studies are needed to confirm if this result can be generalized to female bodybuilders.

Exercise frequently alters the metabolic processes of oxidative metabolism in athletes, including exposure to extreme reactive oxygen species impairing exercise performance. Therefore, both researchers and athletes have been consistently investigating the possible strategies to improve metabolic adaptations to exercise-induced oxidative stress. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has been applied as a therapeutic agent in treating many diseases in humans due to its precursory role in the production of hepatic glutathione, a natural antioxidant. Several studies have investigated NAC’s possible therapeutic role in oxidative metabolism and adaptive response to exercise in the athletic population. However, still conflicting questions regarding NAC supplementation need to be clarified. This narrative review aims to re-evaluate the metabolic effects of NAC on exercise-induced oxidative stress and adaptive response developed by athletes against the exercise, especially mitohormetic and sarcohormetic response.