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The effect of acute taurine ingestion on repeat sprint performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2020

L. Bennis ,
M. Doyle ,
K. Fanning  and
B.P. Carson
L. Bennis
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
M. Doyle
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Education & Sports Sciences, Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
K. Fanning
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Education & Sports Sciences, Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
B.P. Carson
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Education & Sports Sciences, Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland Health Research Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
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Abstract

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Proceedings of the Nutrition Society , Volume 79 , Issue OCE3: Nutrition Society Live 2020, 14–15th July 2020 , 2020 , E788
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2020

Many field based sports include bouts of maximal or sub-maximal sprinting with short recovery periods known as repeated sprint ability (RSA). RSA is defined as sprints short in duration (less than 10 seconds) with brief recovery periods (<60 seconds) usually resulting in a substantial decrease in performance (Reference Girard, Mendez-Villanueva and Bishop1). It is an important characteristic of performance in numerous intermittent sports such as soccer, rugby, tennis and GAA. Taurine (TA) is a sulfonic amino acid commonly found in energy drinks. The effect of acute TA supplementation has been investigated in endurance performance. One study has investigated acute TA supplementation in team sports players, demonstrating performance improvements across 3 Wingate tests compared with a placebo (PLA)(Reference Warnock2), however no studies have yet investigated the effect of acute TA supplementation on RSA which is the aim of this study.

A total of 7 young, healthy, recreationally active males and females (5 male, 2 female; age 21.3 ± 1.9; body mass, 75.4 ± 10.5 kg) were recruited and undertook 3 RSA trials using a 40 m multiple shuttle test. This incorporated 10 x 40 m sprints with two 180° changes in direction, with 30 s recovery between each sprint. Sprint times (s) were recorded using photoelectric timing gates (WITTY). Each participant completed a familiarisation session (Reference Glaister3), followed by TA (50 mg/kg body weight) or PLA trials in a randomised, double blind, crossover design with a washout period of 7 days between each trial. Analysis of sprint performance decrement (Sdec), fastest time (FT), slowest time (ST) and mean time (MT) of sprint performance were conducted using SPSS to compare across conditions using a paired samples t-test.

RSA measured by Sdec did not differ between TA and PLA (TA: 4.4 ± 2%; PLA: 5.7 ± 2.4%; p = .301). There was no significant difference observed between TA and PLA trials for FT (TA: 8.68 ± 0.36 s; PLA: 8.53 ± 0.45 s; p = .423), ST: (TA: 9.32 ± 0.43 s; PLA: 9.44 ± 0.55 s; p = .558) or MT: (TA: 9.06 ± 0.39 s; PLA: 9.02 ± 0.46 s; p = .731).

The findings of this study suggest that an oral acute dose of TA offers no performance advantage in short duration high intensity RSA such as the 40 m multiple shuttle test when compared to PLA.

References

Girard, O, Mendez-Villanueva, A & Bishop, D (2011) Sports Med 41, 673–94.10.2165/11590550-000000000-00000CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warnock, R et al. (2017) IJSPP 12, 1341–1347.Google Scholar
Glaister, M et al. (2009) JSSM 8, 77–82.Google Scholar