Abstract
The importance of carbohydrate as a fuel source for exercise and athletic performance is well established. Equally well developed are dietary carbohydrate intake guidelines for endurance athletes seeking to optimize their performance. This narrative review provides a contemporary perspective on research into the role of, and application of, carbohydrate in the diet of endurance athletes. The review discusses how recommendations could become increasingly refined and what future research would further our understanding of how to optimize dietary carbohydrate intake to positively impact endurance performance. High carbohydrate availability for prolonged intense exercise and competition performance remains a priority. Recent advances have been made on the recommended type and quantity of carbohydrates to be ingested before, during and after intense exercise bouts. Whilst reducing carbohydrate availability around selected exercise bouts to augment metabolic adaptations to training is now widely recommended, a contemporary view of the so-called train-low approach based on the totality of the current evidence suggests limited utility for enhancing performance benefits from training. Nonetheless, such studies have focused importance on periodizing carbohydrate intake based on, among other factors, the goal and demand of training or competition. This calls for a much more personalized approach to carbohydrate recommendations that could be further supported through future research and technological innovation (e.g., continuous glucose monitoring). Despite more than a century of investigations into carbohydrate nutrition, exercise metabolism and endurance performance, there are numerous new important discoveries, both from an applied and mechanistic perspective, on the horizon.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 5-23 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Sports Medicine |
| Volume | 52 |
| Early online date | 29 Sept 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 29 Sept 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Gareth Wallis has received research funding from and/or has acted as a consultant for GlaxoSmithKline Ltd., Sugar Nutrition UK, Dairy Management Inc. and Volac International Ltd. Tim Podlogar has no conflicts of interest of potential relevance to the content of this review.
Funding Information:
This supplement is supported by the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI). The supplement was guest edited by Lawrence L. Spriet, who convened a virtual meeting of the GSSI Expert Panel in October 2021 and received honoraria from the GSSI, a division of PepsiCo, Inc., for his participation in the meeting. Dr Spriet received no honoraria for guest editing the supplement. Dr Spriet suggested peer reviewers for each paper, which were sent to the Sports Medicine Editor-in-Chief for approval, prior to any reviewers being approached. Dr Spriet provided comments on each paper and made an editorial decision based on comments from the peer reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief. Where decisions were uncertain, Dr Spriet consulted with the Editor-in-Chief. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of PepsiCo, Inc.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
- Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation