Introduction The research question is: Are carbohydrates vital for performance in endurance athletes?
The aim of this research is to determine if carbohydrates, as a main part of a diet is vital for endurance athletes. Endurance athletes are defined as athletes who partake in endurance events such as The Dusi Canoe Marathon and Sani 2 Sea. However for this study, athletes who partake in events such as Comrades and Non Stop Dusi are excluded, as these types of endurance are a lot more strenuous as they are ultramarathons, the athletes are competing for longer than an average of 5 hours a day, and require different types of diets to that which is needed for the less extreme form of endurance sport.
In a study by the Food and Agriculture Organization
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Burfoot, A. 2014. Do Low-Carb Diets Improve Endurance Performance? Available at: http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-for-runners/do-low-carb-diets-improve-endurance-performance [Accessed o 10 Feb 2015]
This article is a reliable source as it is found in the runner’s world magazine. This is worldwide recognised magazine, it and therefore the information has to be reliable. This article also focus on the research from Professor Tim Noakes who is a world renowned Sports Scientists and is reliable. This article takes a different approach to carbohydrates and endurance athletes and states that athletes can perform on a low carbohydrate diet. However in the article it was found that in 11 low-carb performance studies only 9 showed that athletes bettered or had a constant performance than on a high-carbohydrate diet. It was also revealed that very little research had been done on the low-carbohydrate diet compared to the high-carbohydrate which limits the information available.
This assists my research as it gives a different opinion and look on carbohydrate diets. It also looks at glycogen and how quickly an athlete uses the stores they have available.
2.4 Carbohydrate Loading for Endurance