The Effect of Quinoa on Strength, VO2max and Athletic Performance

The Effect of Consuming Quinoa on Muscle Strength, VO2max and Athletic Performance Among Adolescent Handball Players

Background: Proper nutrition is essential for sports performance. Quinoa is a gluten-free grain rich in macronutrients such as protein, polysaccharides, and fatty acids and consists of many phytochemicals such as carotenoids, flavonoids, saponins, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Phytochemicals in quinoa act as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. This will protect against several oxidative stress related diseases.

Objective: Investigate the effect of 50 g of quinoa for four weeks on muscle strength, VO2max and athletic performance among adolescent athletes.

Study design: A Double blinded randomized control trial with pre-test and post-test design.

Methods :32 subjects will be included in this trial. Subjects will be divided randomly into control and experimental group with a 1:1 ratio; the experimental group will receive two cookies that contain 50 grams of quinoa; the control group will receive the same two cookies that but without quinoa. Strength will be assessed by using hand-held dynamometer (HHD). Maximum oxygen uptake capacity (Vo2max) will be assessed by Queen's College step test (QCT). And for evaluating performance: standing long jump test, ball throw test, and agility T-test will be used. Subjects will be asked to take the cookies 1-4 hours before bedtime daily during the study period.

Statistical Analysis: Shapiro wilk test will be performed to check the normality of the data and Levenes test will be performed to check homogeneity of variance. Cohen's d will be used to check the effect size. The level of significance is set to p ≤ 0.05.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Sports Nutrition
• Intervention / Treatment: Dietary supplement: cookies that contain 50 grams of quinoa; Dietary supplement: cookies without quinoa

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 32
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Saudi Arabia
  • Dammam, Saudi Arabia, 34521
    • Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion criteria:

1- Healthy adolescent male athletes aged 15 to 18

Exclusion criteria:

1- Use any dietary supplementation, including protein powder, during the study period.

2. Musculoskeletal, neurological, cardiovascular, or systemic disorders which may affect the testing as reported by the participants

3. Biomechanical abnormalities which may affect the testing as reported by the participants

4. Participants psychological disorders

5. Participants on medication which may affect the measurements as reported by the participants

6. Allergic from any recipe ingredients

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Quadruple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental group; the experimental group will receive two cookies that contain 50 grams of quinoa	Dietary supplement: cookies that contain 50 grams of quinoa; 250 grams of ground quinoa will be mixed with 250 grams of ready-to-use cookie flour and 100 gram of butter, one egg, and 75 gram of chocolate chips will be added. After mixing, the ingredients will be divided into (10) cookies (each cookie will continue 25 grams of quinoa) and bake them in oven for 9-11 mint at 190 °C. The placebo control group will receive cookies that continue the same ingredient but without quinoa and the cookies will look like the experimental group cookies. Cookies delivery will be every 3 to 4 days for each participants.
Placebo Comparator: Control group; control group will receive the same two cookies that but without quinoa	Dietary supplement: cookies without quinoa; The placebo control group will receive cookies that continue the same ingredient of experimental group but without quinoa and the cookies will look like the experimental group cookies.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
strength of the biceps and triceps by Hand held dynameter	base line measurement and post test after 4 weeks of intervention
Maximum oxygen uptake capacity (Vo2max) assessed by Queen's College Step Test (QCT)	base line measurement and post test after 4 weeks of intervention
standing long jump test	base line measurement and post test after 4 weeks of intervention
Ball throw test	base line measurement and post test after 4 weeks of intervention
Agility T-test	base line measurement and post test after 4 weeks of intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Shibili Nuhmani, PhD, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 25, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 25, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): October 10, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 23, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 30, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): June 5, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 20, 2025
• Last Verified: July 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB-PGS-2023-03-340

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No