Legal Nutritional Boosting for Cycling

Abstract

Several nutritional strategies have been used in cycling to improve performance. Carbohydrate feeding during exercise has been shown to be effective, but recent studies have suggested that recommendations may have to be adjusted to take into account recent findings. Protein co-ingested with carbohydrate during exercise has received a lot of recent interest, but the evidence is equivocal, at best. Thus, in the absence of a plausible mechanism, it is difficult to see how protein would increase endurance performance. There also has been a lot of interest in training with low glycogen to maximize training adaptations, but the longer-term effects upon performance are still unclear. Various supplements have been suggested to improve endurance performance, but most of these nutrition supplements lack the scientific support that would warrant the recommendation.