Clear, Safe, Sustainable: Expert Consensus on Dietary Strategies to Change Body Mass and Composition in Athletes (Scoping Review Summary)

Introduction and Context

The manipulation of body mass and body composition—reducing fat mass, increasing fat-free mass, or both—is a routine part of competitive sport. In 2025 Delany and colleagues published a large scoping review that collated dietary recommendations from 73 consensus statements, position stands and a practice guideline produced by international expert groups (Delany et al., Sports Med. 2025). The review synthesises recommendations across many organisations (e.g., IOC, ACSM, ISSN, World Athletics/IAAF, World Aquatics/FINA) and identifies points of agreement, areas of uncertainty, and opportunities to make guidance more actionable.

Why now? The field has matured rapidly: new data on energy availability (EA), protein dosing, timing strategies, and the safety/efficacy of some supplements have changed practice. Concerns about athlete health (disordered eating, RED-S/relative energy deficiency in sport), anti-doping risk and implementation gaps in real-world settings created an imperative to summarise and harmonise expert guidance. Delany et al. did that by mapping recommendations and highlighting where guidance is precise (e.g., EA thresholds) and where it remains vague (e.g., many calorie and carbohydrate directives).