{
  "abstract": "Background/Objectives: Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are structurally diverse bioactive carbohydrates being investigated beyond early-life nutrition. General gut–muscle and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) frameworks are well described. This review aimed to assess structure-specific evidence for HMO effects on human exercise outcomes and identify the main translational bottlenecks. Methods: This critical translational review systematically searched PubMed/MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online), Embase, Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus. Evidence was assigned non-exclusively to Layer A (direct exercise evidence), Layer B (exercise-relevant mechanisms), or Layer C (adult translational evidence). We separately evaluated HMO structure, prespecified human efficacy outcomes, within-model causal support, and distance from healthy human exercise. Results: The five databases yielded 4787 records; 40 reports representing 38 independent studies were included. Several HMOs were tolerated at the doses and durations tested and produced structure-, dose-, and host-dependent microbial responses; limited systemic exposure was documented for selected structures. Some intestinal and disease-model pathways had perturbation, knockout, transfer, or rescue support. However, direct human exercise evidence was sparse and inconsistent: primary or overall interaction tests were generally null, whereas favorable findings were mainly secondary, interim, within-group, or exploratory. No study established the complete sequence from oral exposure to target engagement, healthy skeletal-muscle adaptation, and improved performance. Conclusions: Current evidence supports biological activity and testability of selected HMOs, but not an HMO class effect, a confirmed ergogenic mechanism, or a recommendation for exercise-performance use. Translation is constrained by four unresolved links: structure to exposure, exposure to target engagement, target engagement to muscle phenotype, and muscle phenotype to functional benefit.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "School of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China",
    "National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing 102206, China"
  ],
  "article_type": "systematic review",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Chuyuan Qiao",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-7735-3420"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Sitong Guo",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-5008-8454"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Shenglei Yang",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-3236-5218"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Chuwei Yang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yan Wang"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/954bx4avjffd0.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/nu18203417",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13708468",
  "id": "954bx4avjffd0",
  "issns": [
    "2072-6643"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/20/3417",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2916|Infant Nutrition and Health"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213871554",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13708468?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13708468",
  "pmid": "42942988",
  "published": "2026-10-18",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/954bx4avjffd0.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:56Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/nu18203417",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/20/3417"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:22:12Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42942988",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42942988"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "issn:2072-6643",
      "subfield": "nutrition"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Human Milk Oligosaccharides in Exercise Nutrition: Structure-Specific Evidence, Human Efficacy, and Translational Bottlenecks",
  "title_text": "Human Milk Oligosaccharides in Exercise Nutrition: Structure-Specific Evidence, Human Efficacy, and Translational Bottlenecks",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:22:12Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/954bx4avjffd0",
  "venue": "Nutrients",
  "versions": []
}