RED NAMUD Congress: Closing the research gap in women's sports nutrition

The Vice Rector for Institutional Relations, Organisation and General Registrar, Dolores Carrillo, opened the event, highlighting the importance of the conference in "promoting the health of female athletes". Virginia Cagigal, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, recalled that the university "aims to produce science that can transform society". José Ignacio Melendro, representing the Higher Sports Council, the main sponsor of the event, welcomed the presence of 23 universities and more than 50 researchers at the event.

Álvaro López Samanes, lecturer in exercise physiology at Comillas and president of the NAMUD scientific committee, opened the presentations, pointing out the importance of the conference in filling the gap in the field of women's sports nutrition in research and knowledge transfer.

Among the sessions, the presentation "Current evidence on the effect of caffeine intake in female athletes: What do we know about its administration in the different phases of the menstrual cycle?" stood out, focusing on the adaptation of caffeine consumption, which was the first supplement studied in female sports nutrition, to women's physiology. Hydration and thermoregulation and relative energy deficiency syndrome completed the scientific sessions of the conference.

The list of speakers brought together national and international specialists from universities, research centres and sports organisations, consolidating the multidisciplinary and networked nature of NAMUD. It also featured the participation of prominent athletes, such as Paralympic judoka Marta Arce and the track and road coach of the Spanish Paralympic cycling team, Begoña Luis Pérez.