{"title":"Nootropic supplements for esports.","authors":"Fernando J Ribeiro, Rui Poínhos","doi":"10.1024/0300-9831/a000790","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b></b> <i>Background:</i> esports, or organized video game competitions, have been expanding quickly. The use of dietary supplements by esports players appears vulgarized but lacks supporting evidence. <i>Objectives:</i> To outline studies that tested the effects of dietary supplements on video gaming, summarize their findings, highlight knowledge gaps, and recommend future research. <i>Eligibility criteria:</i> Clinical trials published in English between 1990 and 2023 that assessed the effects of dietary supplements on the cognitive performance of video gamers. <i>Sources of evidence:</i> The Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases. <i>Charting methods:</i> PRISMA's (2020) flow diagram was used to create the data chart. <i>Results:</i> Sixteen studies were outlined. Thirteen were randomized, thirteen applied acute interventions, ten applied a crossover design and only three weren't placebo-controlled. Of the 10 studies that included caffeine (40-200 mg), four reported significant positive effects on cognition (attention, processing speed, working memory), two on first-person shooter video gaming performance (reaction time, hit accuracy, time to hit 60 targets), and one on Tetris game score. All 3 studies that included arginine silicate (1500 mg) reported significant improvements in one or more aspects of cognition (reaction time, attention, visual representation, and spatial planning). Two studies that tested sucrose (21 and 26.8 g) didn't report significant improvements, while one study that tested 26.1 g of glucose registered significant positive effects on processing speed and sustained attention. <i>Conclusions:</i> The published literature has focused on the effects of caffeine, which may exert both positive and negative effects on esports players. Additional, high-quality research is needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":13884,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research","volume":" ","pages":"275-295"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1024/0300-9831/a000790","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/8/11 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"NUTRITION & DIETETICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: esports, or organized video game competitions, have been expanding quickly. The use of dietary supplements by esports players appears vulgarized but lacks supporting evidence. Objectives: To outline studies that tested the effects of dietary supplements on video gaming, summarize their findings, highlight knowledge gaps, and recommend future research. Eligibility criteria: Clinical trials published in English between 1990 and 2023 that assessed the effects of dietary supplements on the cognitive performance of video gamers. Sources of evidence: The Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases. Charting methods: PRISMA's (2020) flow diagram was used to create the data chart. Results: Sixteen studies were outlined. Thirteen were randomized, thirteen applied acute interventions, ten applied a crossover design and only three weren't placebo-controlled. Of the 10 studies that included caffeine (40-200 mg), four reported significant positive effects on cognition (attention, processing speed, working memory), two on first-person shooter video gaming performance (reaction time, hit accuracy, time to hit 60 targets), and one on Tetris game score. All 3 studies that included arginine silicate (1500 mg) reported significant improvements in one or more aspects of cognition (reaction time, attention, visual representation, and spatial planning). Two studies that tested sucrose (21 and 26.8 g) didn't report significant improvements, while one study that tested 26.1 g of glucose registered significant positive effects on processing speed and sustained attention. Conclusions: The published literature has focused on the effects of caffeine, which may exert both positive and negative effects on esports players. Additional, high-quality research is needed.
期刊介绍:
Since 1930 this journal has provided an important international forum for scientific advances in the study of nutrition and vitamins. Widely read by academicians as well as scientists working in major governmental and corporate laboratories throughout the world, this publication presents work dealing with basic as well as applied topics in the field of micronutrients, macronutrients, and non-nutrients such as secondary plant compounds.
The editorial and advisory boards include many of the leading persons currently working in this area.
The journal is of particular interest to:
- Nutritionists
- Vitaminologists
- Biochemists
- Physicians
- Engineers of human and animal nutrition
- Food scientists