Among individuals who indulge in high-intensity intermittent sports, the use of carbohydrate loading ensures speed, power, agility and flexibility, which in turn leads to success, especially at elite level sports (Lees, 2003). Carbohydrate loading is commonly referred to as carb-loading or carbo-loading and is a strategy that is universally used by athletes to enhance the storage of energy in the form of glycogen in the liver and muscles. Numerous research accounts for quantitative performance analysis in the interpretation and understanding of carb-loading effects. For quite a long time now, the enhancing effects of carb-loading have become clearer. Research indicates that carbohydrate loading aids tremendously in the raising of the content in muscle glycogen. According to most belief, carb-loading a day prior to or the night before an event leads to better performance. Inasmuch as this is the case, many are unaware of the potential benefits and the process that entails carbohydrate loading. In this paper, the process of carb-lading is explained and its effects highly extrapolated.
Various studies on the topic of carbohydrate loading have been conducted. Through this research, many scholars confirm that while implemented properly, the potential returns of this process can be highly beneficial. During endurance events, carbohydrate loading works to elevate the glycogen content in muscles. In a research conducted by Åkermark et al., (1996) the effects of carbohydrate loading were examined among hockey players. In this study, the players were divided into two random groups and given a high carbohydrate content, while another group was given regular mixed foods. In the study, the players who ate a diet rich in carbohydrates showed a marked increase in performance, improved speed, time and distance. Another research conducted to analyze the effects of carb-loading on mountain bike participants randomly selected resulted in conclusive results. In this study, selection of participants was placed into two groups whereby one group was given a diet rich in carbohydrates while the other group was given a low carbohydrate diet. The high carbohydrate diet comprised of 3 grams of carbs per body weight in kilograms, while the low carbohydrate diet comprised of 1 gram of carbs per kilogram body weight. At the beginning of the race, researchers found out that the competitors who consumed lower carbs appeared to display more energy within the first lap around the course but at the fourth lap, the high carbohydrate competitors were steadily ahead. This led to the inference that high carbohydrate diet sportsmen have 3% increase in their performance compared to low carbohydrate diet sportsmen. Furthermore, the researchers premised that a 3% increase merits long-term races compared to short-term or sprint races (Mueller, Reek & Schantzen, 2016). In this study, muscle biopsies were conducted before, after and during the trial.
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A third study done by Hatfield et al., (2006) worked on examining the effects of employing the use of carbohydrate loading on the performance of repetitive jump squats. Here, researchers concluded that the increase in carbohydrates prior to the exercises aided in making a difference in the performance rate of the participants, who were mostly healthy adult males. In the process of physical performance, numerous factors affect the overall ability, such as having physical training or not. A good example is the aforementioned study, whereby, there are no records nor indications of the physical preparedness of the men. In addition, mental factors also have the potential to increase or inhibit the overall performance aside from the influence of muscle glycogen content. This inconsistency and variations indicate that data may be skewed and consequently reflect inadmissible information. However, an increase in the content of glycogen after the process of carbohydrate loading effectively aids in the determination of the potential of carbohydrates in the replenishment and overall recovery of the content of muscle glycogen, especially after high-intensity events. Therefore, considering all variables, the effort of effecting carbohydrate loading is highly beneficial to the athlete or the participation in any high-performance sport.
According to the dictionary, carbohydrates refer to large organic compound groups that are found in foods and living tissues and even in materials such as starch, sugars, and cellulose. In composition, they contain oxygen and hydrogen in a ratio that is similar to water and can typically be broken down to discharge energy. Therefore, as a nutritional regimen, most athletes use it days prior to an important event, which produces an increase in deposited muscle glycogen. Most importantly, carbohydrates prolong exercise time resulting in improved long-term performance. As another variable, gender is a factor that affects the efficacy of carb-loading. This effect has been discussed for quite a long time, and it has been found out that the difference in gender usually results in an impact on the storage of muscle glycogen within men and women. Over time, men usually increase their storage potential than women, while women increase their muscle glycogen to about 13% for six days or more while they consume a high carbohydrate diet (Mueller, Reek & Schantzen, 2016). This increase in potentiality justifies the premise of increasing high carbohydrate ingestion three to four days before an event such as an ultra-marathon or marathon race, underscoring endurance in athletes.
However, the contrivances by which carbohydrate loading influences performance is not precisely understood. During exercise, the metabolism of carbohydrates is normally subjective to various influences that are christened by many parameters such as exercise intensity, duration, type, form, and the frequency of carbohydrate (CHO) ingestion. This possibility of variations and complexities further increases inconsistencies in various research studies. Commensurately, various studies yield different results that are sometimes conflicting due to the various experimental protocols, which in turn have different influences on the secretion of insulin, catecholamine secretion and ultimately carbohydrate oxidation (Murphy, 2015). In addition, such differences and variations in the variables often result in either a positive or negative effect. One positive effect as mentioned earlier is the use of carbohydrate loading as a role to increase the stores of glycogen and minimize the rate of glycogen depletion in the liver. Moreover, researchers indicate that taking CHO in times of prolonged exercise improves the performance of athletes through the maintenance of plasma glucose accessibility for oxidation in later exercise stages (Burke, Hawley, Wong & Jeukendrup, 2015).
Notably, in studies, the increase in maximum performance capability after carbohydrate loading occurs in the absence of imperative alterations to the plasma fatty acids. What this indicates is the fact that performance capacity can be arbitrated through plasma glucose availability, leading to the conclusion that CHO ingestion may be related to the changes in availability rather than the utilization of CHO or blood glucose (Murphy, 2015). Therefore, in essence, other scholars suggest that supplementation of carbohydrates can completely or partially replace the hepatic glycogenolysis and the gluconeogenesis as a good source of glucose in the blood. This premise indicates a complex process whereby the benefits of CHO loading are still vague.
Ultimately, while CHO loading is shown to augment endurance and overall work output as well as attenuate hyperinsulinemia, conflicting results among the various studies is indicative of the complexities involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates in relation to exercise and sports in general (Murphy, 2015). Additionally, while diet plays a central role in overall athletic performance, the “ideal” diet is still undeterminable and ultimately remains to be a pertinent question that governs the sports and nutrition world.
References
Åkermark, C., Jacobs, I., Rasmusson, M., & Karlsson, J. (1996). Diet and muscle glycogen concentration in relation to physical performance in swedish elite ice hockey players. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 6 (3), 272-284
Burke, L., Jacobs, I., Hawley, J., Wong, S., & Jeukendrup, A (2015). Carbohydrates For Training And Competition . Journal of Sports Sciences , 29 (1), 37-41
Hatfield, D. L., Kraemer, W. J., Volek, J. S., Rubin, M. R., Grebien, B., Gómez, A.L., et al. (2006). The effects of carbohydrate loading on repetitive jump squat power performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 20 (1), 167-171. Retrieved from SCOPUS database.
Lees, A. (2003). Science And The Major Racket Sports: A Review. Journal of Sports Sciences, 21 (9), 707–732. PubMed doi:10.1080/0264041031000140275
Mueller, A., Reek, A. & Schantzen, J. (2016). Effects of Carbohydrate Loading on High Performance Athletics. Lorem Ipsum Dolor
Murphy , T. (2015). Carbo-Load of Crap . Journal - CrossFit , 1, 4-7
