Out of all the health and fitness myths that refuse to die, carbs are easily the most misunderstood. For decades, they’ve been dragged through the mud, blamed for everything from high cholesterol to high blood pressure and beyond.
At the same time, powerlifters and bodybuilders have been strategically using carbs for years, timing them around workouts, cycling them, and leaning on them to get bigger, stronger, and more pumped. It’s the same macronutrient, just viewed through two completely different lenses.
So which side has it right? A recent meta-analysis set out to dig into one specific piece of the debate, whether eating more carbs actually leads to more muscle.
The study published in Springer Natureaimed to assess whether a higher carbohydrate intake influences muscle hypertrophy (aka muscle growth). The researchers claimed that the isolated effect of carbohydrate intake on muscle growth has not been systematically analyzed outside ketogenic diet conditions.
Related: The 12 Healthiest Carbs for Weight Loss, According to Experts
To figure out whether carb intake actually influences muscle growth, researchers looked at randomized controlled trials that compared different levels of carbohydrate intake during around 8.5 weeks of resistance training. The studies had to directly measure changes in muscle size, using tools like muscle thickness, cross-sectional area, or lean mass scans, not tape measurements or skinfold calipers.
They included any intentional difference in carbs, whether from diet or supplements, but excluded studies where protein intake or other supplements varied between groups. Participants also had to be metabolically healthy adults between 18 and 65, without neuromuscular conditions, so the results reflected what happens in a generally healthy lifting population.
The researchers found no significant difference between high-carbohydrate intake and low-carbohydrate intake when it comes to adding muscle.
That said, the research wasn’t perfect. Most of the studies only lasted around two months, which isn’t a very long runway when you’re trying to measure meaningful muscle growth. On top of that, many of them looked at changes in fat-free mass rather than pure muscle. And while fat-free mass includes muscle, it also captures water, bone, and other tissues, which makes it a less precise marker for actual hypertrophy.
This story was originally published by Men’s Journal on Feb 23, 2026, where it first appeared in the Health & Fitness section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.