Muscle glycogen storage after prolonged exercise: effect of the glycemic index of carbohydrate feedings
Abstract
The effect of the glycemic index (GI) of postexercise carbohydrate intake on muscle glycogen storage was investigated. Five well-trained cyclists undertook an exercise trial to deplete muscle glycogen (2 h at 75% of maximal O2 uptake followed by four 30-s sprints) on two occasions, 1 wk apart. For 24 h after each trial, subjects rested and consumed a diet composed exclusively of high-carbohydrate foods, with one trial providing foods with a high GI (HI GI) and the other providing foods with a low GI (LO GI). Total carbohydrate intake over the 24 h was 10 g/kg of body mass, evenly distributed between meals eaten 0, 4, 8, and 21 h postexercise. Blood samples were drawn before exercise, immediately after exercise, immediately before each meal, and 30, 60, and 90 min post-prandially. Muscle biopsies were taken from the vastus lateralis immediately after exercise and after 24 h. When the effects of the immediate postexercise meal were excluded, the totals of the incremental glucose and insulin areas after each meal were greater (P < or = 0.05) for the HI GI meals than for the LO GI meals. The increase in muscle glycogen content after 24 h of recovery was greater (P = 0.02) with the HI GI diet (106 +/- 11.7 mmol/kg wet wt) than with the LO GI diet (71.5 +/- 6.5 mmol/kg). The results suggest that the most rapid increase in muscle glycogen content during the first 24 h of recovery is achieved by consuming foods with a high GI.
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Although high-GI carbohydrate ingestion leads to higher glycogen content after 24 h of recovery, during very short recovery periods the total carbohydrate dose appears more important than the GI.
“although high-GI carbohydrate ingestion leads to higher glycogen content after 24 h of recovery [27], during very short recovery periods the total carbohydrate dose appears more important than the GI”
From Nutritional Strategies to Improve Post-exercise Recovery and Subsequent Exercise Performance: A Narrative Review (2025) · cites this paper as [27]
Ingesting high-GI carbohydrates at a dose of 10 g·kg-1·24 h-1 significantly enhanced post-exercise muscle glycogen restoration compared with low glycemic index carbohydrates (~106 versus 72 mmol·kg−1 wet weight) over a 24-h recovery period.
“research has shown that ingesting high-GI carbohydrates at a dose of 10 g·kg–1·24 h–1 significantly enhanced post-exercise muscle glycogen restoration compared with low glycemic index carbohydrates (~ 106 versus 72 mmol·kg⁻1 wet weight, for high- and low-GI, respectively) over a 24-h recovery period [27]”
From Nutritional Strategies to Improve Post-exercise Recovery and Subsequent Exercise Performance: A Narrative Review (2025) · cites this paper as [27]
The magnitude of increase in glycogen storage (~30%) with high-GI foods is substantially greater than the difference in 24-h blood glucose and insulin profiles.
“However, the magnitude of increase in glycogen storage (~30%) was substantially greater than the difference in 24-h blood glucose and insulin profiles, particularly because the immediate post-exercise meal produced a large glycemic and insulinemic response, independent of the GI of the CHO consumed.”
From Postexercise muscle glycogen resynthesis in humans. (2017) · cites this paper as [22]
Glycogen storage is increased during 24 hours of recovery with CHO-rich meals based on high-GI foods compared with an identical amount of CHO eaten in the form of low-GI foods.
“The subsequent use of published glycaemic index (GI) stores to construct post-exercise diets found that glycogen storage was increased during 24 hours of recovery with a CHO-rich meals based on high-GI foods compared with an identical amount of CHO eaten in the form of low-GI foods (22).”
From Postexercise muscle glycogen resynthesis in humans. (2017) · cites this paper as [22]
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References 9 · Cited by 247
- Authors
- Burke, L. M., Collier, G. R., & Hargreaves, M.
- Affiliations
- ACT Government (AU)
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Physiology
- Publisher
- American Physiological Society
- Published
- 1993-08-01
- Volume
- 75
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 1019-1023
- ISSN
- 0161-7567 (ISSN-L)
- 8750-7587
- 1522-1601
- OpenAlex
- W2135288980
- Cited by
- 247
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 1.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Physiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Food composition and properties
- Keywords
- muscle glycogen storage, glycemic index, glycogen resynthesis, insulin response, glycemic response, sprint exercise, glycogen depletion, cyclists, vastus lateralis
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Bicycling, Blood Glucose, Diet, Dietary Carbohydrates, Glycogen, Humans, Insulin, Muscles, Exercise
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