Is 10g/h of carbohydrate enough for performance?

🔗 Read the full study

This review challenges the long-standing belief that muscle glycogen depletion is the primary cause of fatigue during sustained physical activity.

• By analysing over a century of research, the authors argue that exercise-induced hypoglycemia (EIH) is actually the central factor that triggers exhaustion to protect the brain from damage.
• They demonstrate that consuming carbohydrates enhances performance not by replenishing muscle fuel, but by stabilising blood glucose levels and preventing this neural shutdown. Interestingly, the evidence suggests that high-fat-adapted athletes can achieve similar performance levels despite having lower glycogen stores.
• The findings indicate that even minimal doses of sugar can be effective, as the goal is to maintain the small glucose pool in the liver and blood. Consequently, traditional dietary focus on massive carbohydrate loading may be less critical than once thought for endurance performance.

🔗 Link to the paper

​Carbohydrate Ingestion on Exercise Metabolism and Physical Performance​

Podcast: Carbohydrate Ingestion and the Prevention of Exercise-Induced Hypoglycemia

For decades, the world of endurance sports has been governed by a seemingly unshakable truth: “hitting the wall” is a direct consequence of running out of muscle glycogen. This belief formed the bedrock of modern sports nutrition, leading to the widespread adoption of carbohydrate-loading protocols and high-carbohydrate fueling strategies as undisputed orthodoxy. From the Olympic village to the local marathon starting line, the mantra has been to maximize the body’s largest carbohydrate fuel tank—the muscles—to delay fatigue.

A comprehensive review paper by an international team of researchers led by Dr. Timothy Noakes, however, presents a significant academic challenge to this long-standing paradigm. The paper methodically deconstructs over a century of research to propose a provocative new thesis. This analysis will provide a detailed summary of the paper’s core arguments and critically evaluate the evidence it presents.

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