The Performance Nutrition Podcast S10E6: 30 Years of Performance Nutrition - Tips, Tactics & Wisdom w Dr. Louise Burke, PhD
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Sep 18, 2026 Louise Burke is an Australian sports dietitian, academic, and author who led performance nutrition at the Australian Institute of Sport for nearly three decades. She shares career lessons from elite sport, the evolution of personalized fueling, carbohydrate periodization, and the trade-offs of high-fat diets. The conversation also explores ketone esters, iron metabolism, female athlete research, menstrual-cycle nutrition, and using performance data wisely.
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How A Marathon Dinner Started Burke’s Career
- Louise Burke discovered sports nutrition after her lecturer described carbohydrate loading before a marathon.
- She contacted St Kilda’s star player, eventually earning an invitation to help the club despite limited experience.
Why Sports Nutrition Must Be Personalized
- Performance nutrition evolved from pre-event food rituals toward personalized, periodized, everyday planning.
- Practitioners now must separate evidence from persuasive opinions amplified by social media.
The Flat Coke Experiment Changed Caffeine Thinking
- Burke’s team assumed cyclists drinking flat Coke late in races were misguided.
- Their experiment showed small, late caffeine doses worked as well as large pre-event doses, matching everyday caffeine use.