Carbohydrate-Loading during the Follicular Phase of the Menstrual Cycle: Effects on Muscle Glycogen and Exercise Performance
Abstract
The effects of employing a high-carbohydrate diet (carbohydrate-loading) to increase glycogen storage in skeletal muscle are not well established in female athletes. On 4 occasions—2 familiarization trials and 2 experimental trials—6 well-trained female subjects completed 6 × 15-min continuous intervals of cycling (12 min at 72% V̇O 2max, 1 min at maximal effort, and 2 min at 50% V̇O 2max), followed by a time trial 15 min later. The women consumed their habitual diets (HD; 6–7 g carbohydrate/kg lean body mass) for 3 days after the second familiarization trial and before the first experimental trial. During the 3 days following the first experimental trial, the subjects consumed a high-carbohydrate diet (CD; 9–10 g carbohydrate/kg lean body mass) prior to the second experimental trial. Mean (±SEM) pre-exercise muscle glycogen concentrations were greater after CD versus HD (171.9 ± 8.7 vs. 131.4 ± 10.3 mmol/kg wet weight, P < 0.003). Although 4 of the 6 subjects improved their time-trial performance after CD, mean performance for the time trial was not significantly different between diets (HD: 763.9 ± 35.6 s; CD: 752.9 ± 30.1 s). Thus, female cyclists can increase their muscle glycogen stores after a carbohydrate-loading diet during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, but we found no compelling evidence of a dietary effect on performance of a cycling time trial performed after 90 min of moderate-intensity exercise.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Resting muscle glycogen in eumenorrheic female athletes may be reduced during the follicular phase.
“Resting muscle glycogen in eumenorrheic female athletes may be reduced during the follicular phase [182,183]”
From International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutritional concerns of the female athlete (2023) · cites this paper as [183]
CHO loading during the mid-follicular phase results in a 17-31% improvement in muscle glycogen but not performance.
“However, CHO loading during the mid-follicular phase has resulted in a 17–31% improvement in muscle glycogen but not performance [58,59,60].”
From Considerations of Low Carbohydrate Availability (LCA) to Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) in Female Endurance Athletes: A Narrative Review (2023) · cites this paper as [60]
Research provides conflicting results regarding both the impacts of glycogen super-compensation (or pre-loading) and substrate use during endurance exercise when comparing women to men.
“When comparing women to men, research provides conflicting results regarding both the impacts of glycogen super-compensation (or pre-loading) (James et al. 2001; Paul et al. 2001; Tarnopolsky et al. 2001; Walker et al. 2000) and substrate use during endurance exercise (Devries 2016; Riddell et al. 2003; Roepstorff et al. 2002; Ruby et al. 2002a; Tarnopolsky and Ruby 2001).”
From Males and females exhibit similar muscle glycogen recovery with varied recovery food sources (2020) · cites this paper as Paul et al. 2001
Females can super-compensate (or pre-load) their glycogen stores as effectively as males.
“The current study’s sex similarity also aligns with findings that when men and women are matched for FFM and fitness, whole-body substrate use is similar during exercise (Roepstorff et al. 2002; Ruby et al. 2002a) and that females can super-compensate (or pre-load) their glycogen stores as effectively as males (James et al. 2001; Paul et al. 2001; Tarnopolsky and Ruby 2001; Walker et al. 2000).”
From Males and females exhibit similar muscle glycogen recovery with varied recovery food sources (2020) · cites this paper as Paul et al. 2001
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Recommendations and Nutritional Considerations for Female Athletes: Health and Performance
Holtzman, B., & Ackerman, K. E. (2021) · Sports Medicine · doi:10.1007/s40279-021-01508-8 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutritional concerns of the female athlete
Sims, S. T., Kerksick, C. M., Smith-Ryan, A. E., Janse de Jonge, X. A. K., Hirsch, K. R., Arent, S. M., Hewlings, S. J., Kleiner, S. M., Bustillo, E., Tartar, J. L., et al. (2023) · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · doi:10.1080/15502783.2023.2204066 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
“191] or female athletes during the follicular phase (17–31%) [184,185].”
BackgroundCarbohydrate Loading and Female Endurance Athletes: Effect of Menstrual-Cycle Phase
McLay, R. T., Thomson, C. D., Williams, S. M., & Rehrer, N. J. (2007) · International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism · doi:10.1123/ijsnem.17.2.189 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Lodge, M. T., Ward-Ritacco, C. L., & Melanson, K. J. (2023) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu15204457 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
The Latest on Carbohydrate Loading: A Practical Approach
Sedlock, D. A. (2008) · Current Sports Medicine Reports · doi:10.1249/jsr.0b013e31817ef9cb · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Males and females exhibit similar muscle glycogen recovery with varied recovery food sources
Flynn, S., Rosales, A., Hailes, W., & Ruby, B. (2020) · European Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1007/s00421-020-04352-2 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Mock, M. G., Hirsch, K. R., Blue, M. N. M., Trexler, E. T., Roelofs, E. J., & Smith-Ryan, A. E. (2021) · Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research · doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000002560 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Nutritional Strategies and Sex Hormone Interactions in Women
Rehrer, N. J., McLay-Cooke, R. T., & Sims, S. T. (2017) · Sex Hormones, Exercise and Women · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44558-8_6 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Paul, D. R., Mulroy, S. M., Horner, J. A., Jacobs, K. A., & Lamb, D. R.
- Affiliations
- Agricultural Research Service (US)
- United States Department of Agriculture (US)
- Venue
- International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism
- Publisher
- Human Kinetics
- Published
- 2001-12
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 430-441
- ISSN
- 1526-484X (ISSN-L)
- 1543-2742
- OpenAlex
- W2133469237
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 0.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Keywords
- carbohydrate loading, muscle glycogen, follicular phase, menstrual cycle, female athletes, cycling time trial, exercise performance, high-carbohydrate diet, endurance exercise
- MeSH terms
- Bicycling, Blood Glucose, Dietary Carbohydrates, Fatty Acids, Nonesterified, Female, Follicular Phase, Glycogen, Humans, Insulin, Oxygen Consumption, Time Factors, Exercise, Muscle, Skeletal, Lactic Acid
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
