TY - JOUR

T1 - Diet intake and endurance performance in Kenyan runners

AU - Christensen, Dirk Lund

N1 - Paper id:: 10.1079/ECP200430

PY - 2004

Y1 - 2004

N2 - Training and competing at elite as well as sub-elite level requires an optimal functioning of the body. This review looks at the case of the Kenyan runners, who consume a relatively high-quality diet based on vegetable sources with maize and kidney beans as the staple foods. The diet is high in carbohydrate and total protein, but low to borderline in a few essential amino acids. The timing of diet intake – immediately after training sessions – is optimal for skeletal muscle glycogen resynthesis that is enhanced without the help of insulin up to 60 min after cessation of exercise. Whether the total energy intake of the Kenyan runners is adequate is debatable. However, chronic undernutrition is not possible for athletes who engage in daily high-quality and -quantity physical exercise throughout most of the year. It is suggested that Kenyan runners participate in well-controlled, laboratory studies to investigate the quality of local foods and performance, as well as possible physiological adaptation mechanisms among athletes with a high habitual energy turnover. Udgivelsesdato: 2004

AB - Training and competing at elite as well as sub-elite level requires an optimal functioning of the body. This review looks at the case of the Kenyan runners, who consume a relatively high-quality diet based on vegetable sources with maize and kidney beans as the staple foods. The diet is high in carbohydrate and total protein, but low to borderline in a few essential amino acids. The timing of diet intake – immediately after training sessions – is optimal for skeletal muscle glycogen resynthesis that is enhanced without the help of insulin up to 60 min after cessation of exercise. Whether the total energy intake of the Kenyan runners is adequate is debatable. However, chronic undernutrition is not possible for athletes who engage in daily high-quality and -quantity physical exercise throughout most of the year. It is suggested that Kenyan runners participate in well-controlled, laboratory studies to investigate the quality of local foods and performance, as well as possible physiological adaptation mechanisms among athletes with a high habitual energy turnover. Udgivelsesdato: 2004

KW - Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

KW - Kenya

KW - Runners

KW - Macronutrient intake

KW - Performance

M3 - Review

VL - 1

SP - 249

EP - 253

JO - Comparative Exercise Physiology

JF - Comparative Exercise Physiology

SN - 1755-2540

ER -