Revisiting carbohydrate guidelines for endurance athletes 🍞📝
A new framework for fuelling athletes.
From Metabolism to Medals: Contemporary Perspectives and Revisiting Carbohydrate Guidelines for Fuelling Endurance Athletes During Exercise
Study Details
This contemporary review revisits carbohydrate fuelling during endurance exercise, integrating metabolism, applied practice and real-world athlete data to refine current recommendations 🔍
Here are the top 10 key takeaway messages ⬇️
Key Findings
1️⃣ Carbohydrate intake delays fatigue
CHO feeding helps maintain blood glucose, supports oxidation rates and spares liver glycogen so athletes can sustain intensity for longer ⛽
2️⃣ The 90 g/h ceiling is being questioned
While previous guidelines capped intake at 90 g/h, newer evidence shows higher intakes can further increase carbohydrate availability 📈
3️⃣ 120 g/h is emerging as the new upper target
Trained athletes can achieve higher exogenous CHO oxidation at intakes up to ~120 g/h, supporting an updated practical ceiling 🎯
4️⃣ Higher intakes maintain CHO dependency
Greater CHO availability delays the shift toward fat reliance during prolonged exercise, helping preserve race pace 🏁
5️⃣ Liver glycogen sparing is a key mechanism
Even modest intakes (~20 to 30 g/h) suppress endogenous glucose production and delay hypoglycaemia 🧠
6️⃣ Muscle glycogen sparing is modest
Effects on muscle glycogen are small and context dependent, with stronger evidence in running than cycling 🧬
7️⃣ Multiple transportable carbohydrates remain best practice
Glucose + fructose blends increase exogenous oxidation by ~20 - 55 % versus single-source CHO 📈
8️⃣ Optimal glucose:fructose ratio = 0.6 to 1.0
Higher fructose proportions within this range appear to maximise carbohydrate availability 📊
9️⃣ Gut training improves tolerance
Repeated high-CHO feeding during training reduces GI symptoms and improves tolerance to aggressive fuelling 🥤
🔟 Personalisation is the future
Large inter-individual variability exists, with body size and metabolic demand influencing optimal CHO intake 🧩
Conclusion
More isn’t always better when it comes to carbohydrate, fuel for the work required and for your status as an athlete ✅
Individualisation is the name of the game.
Reference
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002231662600091X
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