SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Sport and Exercise Nutrition
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1640858
This article is part of the Research TopicNutraceuticals in SportsView all 3 articles
The Impact of Nutritional Intervention and Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Mass in Healthy Older Adults -A Comparative Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
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Objective: A growing body of evidence confirms that nutritional supplementation strategies combined with resistance training can enhance muscle strength and mass in older adults. However, the optimal supplementation approach remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the comparative efficacy of different nutritional interventions combined with resistance training on muscle strength and mass in healthy older adults and determine the optimal strategy.Methods: A systematic search was performed across three major biomedical databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and EMbase) to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effects of nutritional supplementation combined with resistance training on muscle strength and mass in healthy older adults. A total of 19 eligible RCTs were included.The search covered literature from database inception to April 2025. Two researchers independently screened studies against predefined eligibility criteria and assessed methodological quality using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. Stata 18.0 was used to conduct network meta-analysis. Conclusion: Compared with resistance training alone, protein supplementation combined with resistance training significantly enhanced muscle strength [Standardized Mean Difference (SMD)=0.45, 95% confidence interval (CI):0.20,0.69;surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA)=98.7%] and muscle mass [Mean Difference(MD)=0.37,95%CI:0.04,0.70],whereas creatine supplementation demonstrated non-significant effects on muscle strength versus training alone (SMD = 0.03, 95% CI: -0.35,0.42) but yielded the most pronounced improvement in muscle mass (MD=2.18,95%CI:0.92,3.44; SUCRA=99.9%), outperforming both protein and β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) interventions, with HMB supplementation critically failing to demonstrate significant benefits for muscle strength (SMD=-0.22,95%CI:-0.57,0.12) or mass outcomes (MD=0.05,95%CI:-0.33,0.44)
Keywords: Nutritional intervention, Resistance Training, Muscle Strength, Muscle m ass, healthy older adults
Received: 04 Jun 2025; Accepted: 01 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 马, Yan, Li, Chen, Liu, Sun and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xingyu Liu, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
Xiaoning Sun, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
Duanying Li, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
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