My background
My interest in sports nutrition and physiology comes from my ongoing passion for playing sport,particularly Ladies Gaelic Football, and a curiosity about the ways in which nutrition and physiology can be harnessed to optimise performance. I began my academic journey with a BSc in Physical Education with Mathematics at Dublin City University, before completing an MSc in Nutrition and Physiology at Loughborough University (UK). It was during this time that I became increasingly aware of the lack of female-specific research within the field of sports and exercise science. From an applied perspective, I saw how this gap often translated into inadequate or compromised support for female athletes across all ages and levels. In 2023, I had the opportunity to return to Dublin City University to pursue a PhD under the supervision of Dr Brendan Egan, where my research focuses on understanding the carbohydrate-based fuelling demands of women’s soccer. Alongside my academic work, I practise as a performance nutritionist, with a particular interest in supporting female athletes and those competing in field-based team sports.
Research project
Background:
Women’s soccer has experienced a surge in popularity and professionalism in recent years and is now one of the fastest-growing sports worldwide (FIFA, 2023). Due to its combination of high-intensity intermittent sprint demands on a background of long duration low-to-moderate intensity, soccer is associated with a high degree of carbohydrate utilisation (Krustrup et al., 2022). For this reason, ensuring adequate carbohydrate availability before and during performance is often advised as a key priority for players.
Carbohydrate based fuelling guidelines have been developed for soccer (Collins et al., 2021).
Although these guidelines are intended to apply to both male and female players, the lack of female-specific data has meant that female players have long been reliant on nutrition advice based on studies performed in males, despite differences in physiology, metabolism, and game demands that might warrant sex-specific guidance (Moore et al., 2021). This research aims to address that gap by investigating the carbohydrate-fuelling requirements of female soccer players, with a particular focus on how different dietary carbohydrate intakes influence both health and performance in this population.
Projects:
The aim of our first study was to audit the literature that underpins current carbohydrate-based fuelling strategies in soccer and assess the extent of evidence supporting their application to female players. After searching across 7 databases, we found 43 studies investigating the effects of acute carbohydrate-based fuelling strategies before or during soccer performance. Of a total of 542
participants, only 20 (3.7%) were female. Furthermore, of the 2 studies that did include females, neither of them provided information around the categorisation or control of menstrual cycle status.
These findings underscore a significant gap in the literature and highlight the need for more high-quality, female-focused research in this area (McManus et al., 2025).
The findings from this review helped shape the direction of our subsequent research. Building on the identified gaps, some of our ongoing projects in this area include:
(i) experimental studies aimed at understanding the effects of two days of isocaloric diets containing different carbohydrate intakes on physical and cognitive performance in female soccer players,
(ii) an observational study examining the current carbohydrate-based fuelling strategies of elite female soccer players and how these may be linked to female specific health issues,
(iii) a qualitative piece exploring the personal experiences, attitudes, and beliefs that may influence carbohydrate-based fuelling behaviours among female soccer players, and (iv) a critical appraisal evaluating the likelihood of between-sex differences in carbohydrate requirements.
Take-homes so far:
● The current guidelines on carbohydrate-based fuelling strategies for soccer are not informed by an adequate evidence base when applied to female players. Future research on carbohydrate-based fuelling strategies for soccer performance in female cohorts using high-quality methodological approaches is strongly warranted.
● Female soccer players tend to under consume carbohydrates relative to the current guidelines, and these behaviours are shaped by a mix of educational, social, and environmental factors. The provision of adequate nutrition support within women’s soccer teams is necessary and may play a role in supporting positive carbohydrate-based fuelling behaviours.
● Males and females exhibit differences in carbohydrate metabolism during exercise, carbohydrate storage capacity, relative quantities of fat and fat free mass, and running demands during soccer match-play. However, whether these differences translate into practically-meaningful differences in carbohydrate requirements for soccer performance remains unclear. Because of the inter-individual variability that exists regardless of biological sex, an individualised approach to fuelling remains the cornerstone to sports
nutrition practice.
References:
Collins J, Maughan RJ, Gleeson M, Bilsborough J, Jeukendrup A, Morton JP, Phillips SM, Armstrong L, Burke LM, Close GL, et al. 2021. UEFA expert group statement on nutrition in elite football. Current evidence to inform practical recommendations and guide future research. Br J Sports Med. 55(8):416. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2019-101961.
FIFA. 2023. Women’s football: member associations survey report 2023.
https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/28ed34bd888832a8/original/FIFA-Women-s-Football-MA-Survey-Report-2023.pdf
Krustrup P, Mohr M, Nybo L, Draganidis D, Randers MB, Ermidis G, Ørntoft C, Røddik L, Batsilas D, Poulios A, et al. 2022. Muscle metabolism and impaired sprint performance in an elite
women’s football game. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 32(Suppl 1):27–38. doi: 10.1111/sms.13970.
McManus L, Faria VS, Scriney M, Egan B. 2025. Less than 4% of participants in studies of carbohydrate-based fuelling strategies for soccer performance have been female: results from an
audit of her representation. Sci Med Footb. 1–12. doi: 10.1080/24733938.2025.2501809
Moore DR, Sygo J, Morton JP. 2022. Fuelling the female athlete: carbohydrate and protein recommendations. Eur J Sport Sci. 22(5):684–696. doi: 10.1080/17461391.2021.1922508.
Author’s Bio:
Laura McManus is a PhD student in the School of Health & Human Performance at Dublin City University. Laura holds a BSc in Physical Education and Mathematics from Dublin City
University, and a MSc in Nutrition and Physiology of Sport and Exercise from Loughborough University. Her PhD focuses on integrating lab- and field- based data collection and advanced data
analysis tools to investigate the carbohydrate-based fuelling demands of women’s soccer.
Connect with Laura
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/laura-mcmanus-2a584a209
X: https://x.com/LauraMcManus__
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laura-Mcmanus-6
ORCID: 0000-0002-0139-1133