The effect of phosphatidylserine on golf performance

Ralf Jäger¹ , Martin Purpura¹ , Kurt-Reiner Geiss² , Michael Weiß³ , Jochen Baumeister³ , Francesco Amatulli⁴ , Lars Schröder⁴ and Holger Herwegen⁴

¹Increnovo LLC, 2138 E Lafayette Pl, Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA

²ISME, Weingartenstrasse 2, D-64546 Mörfelden-Walldorf, Germany

³Department of Sport and Health, University of Paderborn, Warburger Str. 100, 33098 Paderborn, Germany

⁴Department of Sport and Health, Institute of Sports Medicine and Golf Academy, University of Paderborn, Warburger Str. 100, 33098 Paderborn, Germany

author email corresponding author email

Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2007, 4:23doi:10.1186/1550-2783-4-23


Published:	4 December 2007

Abstract

Background

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was performed to evaluate the effect of oral phosphatidylserine (PS) supplementation on golf performance in healthy young golfers with handicaps of 15–40.

Methods

Perceived stress, heart rate and the quality of the ball flight was evaluated before (pre-test) and after (post-test) 42 days of 200 mg per day PS (n = 10) or placebo (n = 10) intake in the form of a nutritional bar. Subjects teed-off 20 times aiming at a green 135 meters from the tee area.

Results

PS supplementation significantly increased (p < 0.05) the number of good ball flights (mean: pre-test 8.3 ± 3.5, post-test 10.1 ± 3.0), whereas placebo intake (mean: pre-test 7.8 ± 2.4, post-test 7.9 ± 3.6) had no effect. PS supplementation showed a trend towards improving perceived stress levels during teeing-off (mean: pre-test 5.8 ± 2.0, post-test 4.0 ± 2.0, p = 0.07), whereas stress levels remained unchanged in the placebo group (mean: pre-test: 5.1 ± 2.0, post-test: 5.1 ± 3.1). Supplementation did not influence mean heart rate in either group.

Conclusion

It is concluded that six weeks of PS supplementation shows a statistically not significant tendency (p = 0.07) to improve perceived stress levels in golfers and significantly improves (p < 0.05) the number of good ball flights during tee-off which might result in improved golf scores.