Carbohydrate ingestion during prolonged exercise: An update of current concepts

This review provides an update on optimal carbohydrate intake strategies during prolonged exercise. The focus is primarily on the findings of studies performed in the past five years that have investigated the effect of multiple carbohydrate ingestion during prolonged exercise. Specifically, the emphasis is on the new findings related to the ingestion of carbohydrate drinks that contain more than one type of carbohydrate. The co-ingestion of either glucose or glucose polymer with fructose, or glucose, sucrose and fructose at a rate of 1.5 – 2.4g.min -1 during prolonged cycling results in significantly higher peak exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates compared to ingestion of iso-energetic glucose or glucose polymer solutions. However, despite higher oxidation rates from the ingestion of mixed carbohydrate drinks, there is little evidence that this translates into improved performance. Keywords: multiple carbohydrate, mixed carbohydrate, peak exogenous oxidation