436: Marginal gains – the growing role of nutrition in eSports

Over the last few years, the world of eSports has exploded in popularity. By 2024, its global audience on platforms like YouTube and Twitch is expected to reach nearly 600 million people. That is a huge increase on the roughly 400 million recorded in 2019. Yet despite the growing recognition of gaming as a serious sport, there remains a significant gap in the research around the role of nutrition. For conventional sports, research often focuses on nutrition as a way to enhance physical ability – what can make you run faster, jump higher and maintain stamina? But considering that eSport athletes spend the majority of their careers sitting down, you would expect their nutritional needs to differ. From an economic perspective, it has been widely reported that the computer games industry is now worth more than the music and movie industries combined. That has been followed by the food and drink industry showing an increased interest in functional beverages aimed at gamers. The question is: Is that boom in functional beverages fuelled by demand for those products, or is it clever marketing from players in the food industry, linking themselves to gaming in order to boost sales? So, what is the role of nutrition in this field? How can it be used to optimise a gamer’s performance? And where is the research heading? In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we seek to answer those questions and more. Guests: Klaudia Buczek, Founder, Made By Diet Nicholas Morgan, Managing Director, Sports Integrated