Exercise Endurance Effects of Food‐Derived Polysaccharides in Animal Models of Exercise‐Induced Fatigue: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

ABSTRACT

The effects of food‐derived polysaccharides on endurance may depend on their source materials, extraction and purification procedures, molecular characteristics, and mode of administration; however, their average effects and transferability across animal models remain uncertain. To quantify effects on exercise endurance and to evaluate how chemical/process characterization, biochemical response domains, and evidence quality support functional‐food interpretation. Controlled animal studies were systematically reviewed; 31 independent StudyIDs from 30 reports were synthesized using random‐effects response ratios (RoM) with Hartung–Knapp intervals. Chemical and processing descriptors and selected biochemical outcomes were mapped as structured evidence layers. Endurance increased overall (RoM 1.707, 95% CI 1.540–1.892; I ²  = 95.4%), while the 95% prediction interval (0.999–2.917) included the null. Characterization was incomplete: purity/content, molecular weight, monosaccharide composition, and extraction or purification information were recoverable for only subsets of StudyIDs. Biochemical observations clustered around energy‐substrate, lactate/BUN, oxidative‐stress, muscle‐injury, mitochondrial/AMPK, and gut‐microbiota domains, but few comparable records were suitable for effect‐size calculation. Food‐derived polysaccharides show a positive average preclinical endurance signal, but very high heterogeneity, incomplete chemical/process reporting, evidence asymmetry, and sparse harmonized biochemical data constrain claims of efficacy for formulated functional foods.