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Yanaa commissioned a scientific study with the research institute HumanFab to review the evidence on athlete health, performance, and sports nutrition. Their team of doctors, nutritionists, and sports scientists examined more than 600 peer-reviewed studies, the report reaches a clear conclusion: for most athletes, health comes first, and real food should be the foundation.
Here are 7 key principles athletes can adopt.
At the heart of the report is a simple scientific conclusion: athletic performance evolves from health.
Sports nutrition should not only provide energy, but also support recovery, digestion, resilience, and long-term wellbeing.
Based on the HumanFab study, we summarised 7 key principles that athletes can follow to nourish the whole system and improve sustainable performance.
Sports nutrition often focuses on carbohydrates. But the report argues that performance depends on more than fuel alone.
A varied, minimally processed diet provides carbohydrates along side other macronutrients, fibre, micronutrients, and bioactive compounds that are essential for an athlete.
Every athlete is different, and every training session places different demands on the body. That means fuelling needs can vary with the athlete, the intensity, the duration, and the goal.
There is no one-size-fits-all rule. The report suggests that sports nutrition should be individualised and matched to the effort.
Different foods are tolerated, digested, and absorbed at different rates. That means fuelling strategies should take account of both the effort and the timing of intake.
There is no one-size-fits-all rule. Good timing depends on the athlete, the session, and what can be comfortably eaten and used.
Real foods may seem old-fashioned, but it offers more than just carbohydrates, bringing many essential micro-nutrients.
The report finds that real food can actually match synthetic products for performance, and it often tastes better too.
Not eating enough is one of the most common ways athletes undermine both performance and health. In the short term, low energy intake can reduce training quality and recovery. Over time, it can have wider consequences for resilience and long-term progress.
The report suggests that athletes should meet not only their everyday energy needs, but also the additional demands created by training.
The body is not a simple machine. For energy to reach your muscles it has to go through a complex multi-step process being eaten, tolerated, digested, absorbed, and metabolised.
If one part of that chain fails, the rest of the system is affected. Its important to think about the digestive process.
Training puts the body under stress, and fuelling can add to that too. The gut and teeth take more of a hit than many athletes realise.
The right nutrition is not just about performance on the day. It should also be food your body can cope with well over time.
We’re humans, not machines
For decades, sports nutrition has often treated the body like a machine: put in carbs, get out performance. But the report points to a more complete picture.
In fact, your body is a living system. Performance depends on far more than fuel alone - from digestion and metabolism to hydration, recovery, immunity, and long-term health. That is why real food matters: not just for what it contains, but for how it works with the whole athlete.
Yanaa est née d’une étude menée avec l’Université de Caen auprès de 592 athlètes en 2024.
Voici ce que nous avons découvert :
77% of athletes think sports nutrition is disgusting.
78% of athletes believe that current sports nutrition is unhealthy.
75% of athletes prefer savoury foods.
Top athletes, surrounded by chefs and nutritionists, don't eat astronaut-grade powders. They choose raw, easily digestible, and intelligently sourced ingredients.
Anouck has cooked for the best cycling teams, using high-quality, organic products and recipes they love. Taste, yes. Nutritional balance, always.
Some brands promise the moon. We prefer to stay honest, open, and transparent about what’s in our food, how we make it, what it can do, and what it can’t.
We’re always sharing our journey on social media, so if you're curious, come along for the ride!
