The present systematic review with meta-analysis summarized studies that investigated the effect of carbohydrate (CHO) mouth rinse on muscle strength and muscular endurance. The search was performed in six databases. Thirteen randomized clinical trials were selected and the standardized mean difference between CHO mouth rinse and placebo for maximal strength and muscular endurance was determined via a random-effects model using Review Manager 5.4 software. Meta-regression was also performed to explore the influence of load, number of sets, number of exercises, fasting time, CHO concentration, and number of mouth rinses on the main outcomes. There was no significant effect of CHO mouth rinse on maximal strength (mean difference= 0.25 kg, 95%CI - 1.81 to 2.32 kg, z = 0.24, p = 0.810). However, there was a significant positive effect of CHO mouth rinse on muscular endurance (mean difference = 1.24 repetitions, 95%CI 0.70 to 1.77 repetitions, z = 4.55, p < 0.001). Meta-regression identified that CHO mouth rinse has greater benefits on muscular endurance when using high workloads, multiple exercises, and a smaller number of mouth rinses (p = 0.001). In conclusion, CHO mouth rinse has no effect on maximal muscle strength but has a positive effect on muscular endurance and seems to optimize when fewer mouth rinses, high workloads and numbers of exercises are used.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2022.2057417.
Keywords: Maltodextrin; mouthwash; one-repetition maximum; repetition to failure; resistance-training.