Analysis

Research reveals advice for women athletes is not supported by science

Gatorade Sports Science Institute research says women athletes are not receiving correct information about what is best for their bodies. In conversation with Portugal's Tatiana Pinto, Brazil's Tamires and ex-England player Anita Asante, we look at why it must change...

Adam Bate

Comment and Analysis @ghostgoal

Tuesday 3 June 2025 10:06, UK

Women’s football is growing fast but the science is still catching up. In fact, alarmingly, new research reveals that much of the popular advice being aimed at women around hydration, nutrition, and performance is not backed by science at all.

The problem is that while online conversations increase - discussions about the menstrual cycle's impact on performance rose by 400 per cent in the past year - the quality of that information is not keeping pace with the demand. It can cause harm.

Research from the Gatorade Sport Science Institute shows that while blog-based unverified content has spiked, the number of academic citations have actually dropped. The challenge for women's sport and wider society is to address that.

Speaking to a number of top women players at a Gatorade event in Lisbon recently, it became clear that even the very best have suffered as a result. "I was doing really bad things," Tatiana Pinto, a Portugal international with over 100 caps, tells Sky Sports.

"I did not eat properly. I did not hydrate properly. I was drinking some drinks that do not really matter for us in terms of energy levels. I was doing all the wrong things, but my family did not have that information, even our doctors did not have that information."

Pinto has seen things change during her career. "When I started playing, we did not have nutritionists, we did not have anything. We did not have even food in the clubs. We only had water, that was it." Now, she has her own private nutritionist. "I am obsessed."

But while things are changing at the top level, Pinto remains conscious that her own appetite for information about what is best for her body is not being sated. "Information that is backed up with science," she explains. "That is something that we still miss."

Much of the research around nutrition for athletes focuses on men. "We are women. We have different bodies," says Pinto. "We want to have more information - clear, accurate information that we can trust. It is not normal. We want to change that."

Busting the myths

MYTH: Women do not need sports drinks when training – just water.
SCIENCE SAYS: Water alone may not suffice during prolonged or intense exercise. Electrolytes and carbohydrates in sports drinks like Gatorade help maintain fluid balance, delay fatigue, and reduce the risk of hyponatremia.

MYTH: Women should avoid carbs and go low-carb to perform better.
SCIENCE SAYS: The majority of female athletes struggle to meet their daily carbohydrate recommended intake. When pushing themselves physically, especially for prolonged periods of time, carbohydrates are essential to helping them perform at their full potential.

MYTH: Women nutritional needs change during different phases of your cycle
SCIENCE SAYS: There is currently no evidence to suggest that a woman’s diet should be altered in any way depending on the phase of their menstrual cycle. Every woman experiences different symptoms throughout their cycle, and they might crave different foods at certain points. That's why a "one size fits all" approach to nutrition doesn't work for women, they need personalised approaches based on individual needs rather than generalised advice that won’t work for everyone.

MYTH: Sports bras don’t need special fitting.
SCIENCE SAYS: Women should be fitted specifically for a sports bra. Most female athletes do not know they need to be fitted for a bra. A poorly fitted sports bra does not just cause discomfort; it impacts breathing frequency, makes running techniques less efficient, increases ground reaction force which increases risk of lower limb injury and makes the upper body work harder possibly leading to fatigue faster.

Even elite women athletes talk of being provided with only water during prolonged, intense exercise. But electrolytes and carbohydrates in sports drinks like Gatorade help maintain fluid balance, delay fatigue, and reduce the risk of hyponatremia.

Carbohydrates. It is a word that many women have had their brain trained to dread. Tamires, a legendary player for Brazil, still going strong at the age of 37, feels that keenly. "It is so important to speak about food trauma among young girls," she tells Sky Sports.

A far higher proportion of teenage girls than teenage boys drop out of organised sport. Much of that can be explained by the ongoing issue of what society deems a healthy young woman to look like. Tamires nods in agreement when the subject is raised.

Now, she feels fitter than ever, but only after changing her attitude to nutrition. "Even now, there are young girls growing up being told that you cannot eat this or cannot drink that because you are going to get too heavy. We need to start changing this mentality."

Anita Asante, the former England international, moderated the Gatorade event in Lisbon and speaking to Sky Sports afterwards she outlined why the impact of changing the messaging for young women is potentially transformative for the sport at all levels.

"No players I ever played with were able to hire chefs or nutritionists, but I know a number of the senior English players do use one now," she said. "So the game has progressed in that respect, and that is a great thing. But how are educating girls at grassroots level?

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"The point is that players should not have to get to the highest level to access this information. I do not want us to have to wait until a player is 27 before they know about carbohydrates and hydration and when it is the best time for them to get their fuel.

"I want them to know about these things when they are 10 or 11 or 12, so that when they are growing up they are getting into great habits and this becomes the norm for them in their lives rather than needing to be reminded of it every five seconds or whatever.

"That is when you can really maximise the potential, when they do it because they want to do it and know the benefits of it. Because then you are just going to get this massive pool of talent already doing the right things and also developing incredible athletes."