ArticleBiology of sport2023
The effect of α-lactalbumin consumption on sleep quality and quantity in female rugby union athletes: a field-based study.
Article in Biology of sport, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Nutritional Strategies for Optimizing Health, Sports Performance, and Recovery for Female Athletes and Other Physically Active Women: A Systematic Review.Nutrition reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Pre-Sleep Alpha-Lactalbumin Supplementation Does Not Improve the Habitual Sleep and Performance of Sportspeople with Sleep Difficulties.Nutrients · 2025Trial
- Collagen peptide supplementation before bedtime reduces sleep fragmentation and improves cognitive function in physically active males with sleep complaints.European journal of nutrition · 2024Trial
- Koumiss (Fermented Mare's Milk) as a Functional Food: Bioactive Proteins, Peptides, and Future Perspectives.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Nutrition Strategies to Promote Sleep in Elite Athletes: A Scoping Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Optimizing Sleep in Athletes: The Potential of α-Lactalbumin in Nutrition Intervention.Protein and peptide letters · 2025Review
- Sleep interventions in elite sport - a systematic review.South African journal of sports medicine · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trial aimed to investigate the effects of α-lactalbumin consumption on sleep quality and quantity in female rugby union athletes during a competition season. Eighteen semi-professional female rugby union players (age 23.8 ± 5.2 y; mean ± SD) wore wrist actigraphy watches for four seven-day blocks corresponding to the pre-season, a home game, a bye week (i.e. no competition game scheduled) and an away game. Participants consumed either an α-lactalbumin (α-LAC), or placebo drink (PLA) every night two hours before bed for the duration of the season. Generalised linear mixed models were used to investigate the effects of the nutritional intervention on sleep variables (total sleep time, sleep efficiency (SE), sleep onset latency (SOL) and wake after sleep onset) over the duration of the season. There was a significant condition by period interaction effect on SOL (p = 0.01). While similar at baseline (23.3 ± 16.3 and 23.2 ± 18.9 min α-LAC and placebo respectively) and for the home game (22.4 ± 17.6 and 19.3 ± 14.9 min α-LAC and placebo respectively), SOL was reduced in the α-LAC group for the bye (11.6 ± 13.4 min) and away game (17.0 ± 11.5 min; p = 0.045). In comparison, SOL remained unchanged in the PLA group (bye 21.2 ± 17.3 and away 22.5 ± 18.5 min). Pre-sleep α-lactalbumin consumption improved SOL in a semi-professional female team-sport cohort. Thus, α-lactalbumin could be utilised by athletes to support sleep during a competitive season.
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