CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 77Muscle metabolism and nutritionSports Performance and TrainingCardiovascular and exercise physiology

Carbohydrate loading failed to improve 100-km cycling performance in a placebo-controlled trial

Burke, Louise M., Hawley, John A., Schabort, Elske J., Gibson, Alan St Clair, Mujika, Iñigo, Noakes, Timothy D.·2000·Journal of Applied Physiology
DOI 10.1152/jappl.2000.88.4.1284
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

We evaluated the effect of carbohydrate (CHO) loading on cycling performance that was designed to be similar to the demands of competitive road racing. Seven well-trained cyclists performed two 100-km time trials (TTs) on separate occasions, 3 days after either a CHO-loading (9 g CHO ⋅ kg body mass− 1 ⋅ day− 1) or placebo-controlled moderate-CHO diet (6 g CHO ⋅ kg body mass− 1 ⋅ day− 1). A CHO breakfast (2 g CHO/kg body mass) was consumed 2 h before each TT, and a CHO drink (1 g CHO ⋅ kg.body mass− 1 ⋅ h− 1) was consumed during the TTs to optimize CHO availability. The 100-km TT was interspersed with four 4-km and five 1-km sprints. CHO loading significantly increased muscle glycogen concentrations (572 ± 107 vs. 485 ± 128 mmol/kg dry wt for CHO loading and placebo, respectively; P < 0.05). Total muscle glycogen utilization did not differ between trials, nor did time to complete the TTs (147.5 ± 10.0 and 149.1 ± 11.0 min; P = 0.4) or the mean power output during the TTs (259 ± 40 and 253 ± 40 W, P = 0.4). This placebo-controlled study shows that CHO loading did not improve performance of a 100-km cycling TT during which CHO was consumed. By preventing any fall in blood glucose concentration, CHO ingestion during exercise may offset any detrimental effects on performance of lower preexercise muscle and liver glycogen concentrations. Alternatively, part of the reported benefit of CHO loading on subsequent athletic performance could have resulted from a placebo effect.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1152/jappl.2000.88.4.1284

Cites

31 of 31 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

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?

  • CHO loading using a similar pattern and amount of carbohydrate intake during the mid-luteal phase fails to change resting muscle glycogen concentrations or only documents a modest increase of 13%, compared to what is generally reported for male athletes (18-47%) or female athletes during the follicular phase (17-31%).

    “CHO loading using a similar pattern and amount of carbohydrate intake during the mid-luteal (ML) phase failed to change resting muscle glycogen concentrations [182] or only documented a modest increase (13%) [186] compared to what is generally reported for male athletes (18–47%) [185,187–191] or female athletes during the follicular phase (17–31%) [184,185].”

    From International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutritional concerns of the female athlete (2023) · cites this paper as [189]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Burke, L. M., Hawley, J. A., Schabort, E. J., Gibson, A. S. C., Mujika, I., & Noakes, T. D.
Affiliations
  • ACT Government (AU)
  • RMIT University (AU)
  • University of Cape Town (ZA)
  • Departmento de Investigación y Desarollo Servicios Médicos, Athletic Club de Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Applied Physiology
Publisher
American Physiological Society
Published
2000-04-01
Volume
88
Issue
4
Pages
1284-1290
ISSN
  • 0161-7567 (ISSN-L)
  • 8750-7587
  • 1522-1601
DOI
10.1152/jappl.2000.88.4.1284
OpenAlex
W2161241521
Cited by
77
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 2
FWCI
1.41
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 › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
Keywords
carbohydrate loading, cycling performance, time trial, muscle glycogen, liver glycogen, blood glucose, endurance exercise, placebo effect, well-trained cyclists
MeSH terms
Adult, Bicycling, Body Weight, Dietary Carbohydrates, Glycogen, Humans, Liver Glycogen, Male, Oxygen Consumption, Placebos, Muscle, Skeletal

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