Metabolic, Functional and Nutritional Responses to Weight Cycling in Athletes: The WAVE Study — WAVE  

Athletes Clinical Trial

Official title: Metabolic, Functional and Nutritional Responses to Weight Cycling in Athletes: The WAVE Study

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

Many elite athletes are submitted to frequent rapid weight loss periods to meet their competition weight category and then experience weight cycling (lowing and gaining weight regularly). This weight cycling induce severe temporary energetic and metabolic changes and when repeated over time can lead to permanent metabolic adaptations that might favor metabolic disorders, body weight gain and body composition changes (favoring fat mass). The exact effects of this weight cycling are not clear yet, especially in terms of metabolic, energetics, nutritional functional and psychological impacts. Better understand these adaptations and their variations during weight loss and weight gain in regular weight cycler is of main importance to prevent these athletes for future health issues.

The aim of the present project if to assess these metabolic, functional, energetic and nutritional adaptations during weight loss, weight stable and weight gain periods in athletes experiencing regular weight cycling.

Clinical Trial Description

After an inclusion visit to ensure the eligibility of athletes to complete the entire study, each subject will perform 3 experimental sessions of 2 visits each : i) two visits during a period of maintenance of body weight (CON); ii) two visits during weight loss (WL); iii) two visits during a weight regain (WG). The order of the periods (maintenance, loss or weight gain) will depend on the dynamics of the weight variations of each athlete (endurance sport and weight class) during the season and will therefore be individualized.

All experiments will be conducted in the same way for the CON, WL or WG session.

Upon arrival, each subject will perform a resting metabolism with continuous measurement of heart rate variability (≈ 30 min). Then, from 8:30, blood and saliva samples will be taken (≈ 10 min). Then (≈ 8:45), they will perform anthropometric and body composition measurements (waist circumference, hip circumference, bioimpedance, DXA) (≈ 30 min). Following these measurements (≈ 9:15), the subjects will eat a standardized breakfast and the report to food will be evaluated thanks to the Leeds Foods Preference Questionnaire before and after the meal. They will then be asked (≈ 10h) to complete the Profile of Mood State Questionnaire to measure the athlete's psychological state. Participants will then perform a measurement of muscle function (≈ 10:30).

During the second visit, carried out between 1 and 5 days after the first visit, the maximum aerobic capacity of the athletes will be evaluated by mid-morning stress test. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Athletes
• Weight Cycling

• NCT number: NCT04107545
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: May 3, 2021
• Completion date: December 12, 2023