Matteo Campagna
ITEN
Menu
Menu

Archers who eat more tryptophan shoot higher scores in competition

1 study · 45 archers measured

There is a single study, from Iran, of 45 provincial-level recurve archers. Tryptophan was estimated from a seven-day weighed food record, and the score is the official one from a qualification round of 36 arrows at 70 metres. The link is there, and it is strong for a study of this size: the correlation is 0.53, it holds at 0.49 once training hours are taken into account, and those above 400 milligrams a day shot an average of 318 points out of 360, against 278 for those below 250. The archers who took in more also reported less cognitive anxiety an hour before competing and more self-confidence, and anxiety accounts for part of the link with score. It is, however, an association measured once: people who eat more meat, dairy and pulses may differ in many other ways, and the study cannot say that adding tryptophan raises scores. One of the reported values, moreover, does not square with the means in its own table, and the study appears in a journal with questionable editorial standards: the registry reports it but does not use it to decide the status, which remains not studied.

Also phrased as: "tryptophan and archery"; "serotonin and score"; "diet and competition anxiety"; "nutrition and archery accuracy"

In practice

Among competition supplements there is the idea that tryptophan, which the body turns into serotonin, settles the nerves before shooting, and that milk, bananas or turkey the night before help you stay calmer on the line.

Evidence

  • 2026
    Context Archers Published later

    Venue with questionable editorial standards: this result does not count towards the status. 45 provincial-level recurve archers from Fars province in Iran (28 men and 17 women, 6.8 years of experience on average), with tryptophan estimated from a seven-day weighed food record (347 ± 112 milligrams a day): the correlation with the official score from a qualification round of 36 arrows at 70 metres is r = 0.53 (p < 0.001), and it holds at 0.49 once training volume is taken into account.

    Relationship between dietary tryptophan intake, pre-competition cognitive anxiety and shooting accuracy in archers Questionable venue · Yalda Darvishi

  • 2026
    Context Archers Published later

    Venue with questionable editorial standards: this result does not count towards the status. Split into three tryptophan bands: 278.3 ± 18.6 points below 250 milligrams a day (14 archers), 296.7 ± 15.2 between 250 and 400 (16), 318.4 ± 14.1 above 400 (15); F = 22.08, p < 0.001, about 40 points between the lowest and the highest band. The comparison between the two extreme bands is reported at p = 0.002, a value that does not square with the means and standard deviations in the table, which would give a much smaller p.

    Relationship between dietary tryptophan intake, pre-competition cognitive anxiety and shooting accuracy in archers Questionable venue · Yalda Darvishi

  • 2026
    Context Archers Published later

    In the same study more tryptophan goes with less cognitive anxiety an hour before competing (r = -0.47, p = 0.001) and more self-confidence (r = 0.41, p = 0.005), while somatic anxiety does not differ across the bands (p = 0.320). When cognitive anxiety is added to the model, the weight of tryptophan on score drops from 0.53 to 0.31: part of the link runs through anxiety.

    Relationship between dietary tryptophan intake, pre-competition cognitive anxiety and shooting accuracy in archers Questionable venue · Yalda Darvishi

Status history

  1. 1990 Not studied Nobody in the registry's bibliography had linked how much tryptophan archers eat to their scores: the question has no data.
  2. 2026 Not studied The first study arrives: 45 Iranian recurve archers, tryptophan estimated from a week-long weighed food record and the official score from a qualification round at 70 metres. The correlation is 0.53, holds at 0.49 once training is accounted for, and about 40 points out of 360 separate the lowest and highest tryptophan bands. Those who take in more also report less cognitive anxiety before competing. It is a cross-sectional association, from a single study in a journal with questionable editorial standards: the registry reports it but does not use it to decide the status, which remains not studied.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Archers who eat more tryptophan shoot higher scores in competition (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/tryptophan-score

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_triptofanopunteggio,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Archers who eat more tryptophan shoot higher scores in competition},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/tryptophan-score},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Other claims in this domain

See all claims on health and recovery