FACTFILE > CARBOHYDRATE

Dr Robert Atkins’ controversial low-carbohydrate diet has taken the world by storm, but for elite athletes, cutting out this essential source of energy could have a serious effect on performance…

Traditionally, the majority of research on carbohydrates has focussed on endurance sports and was, until recently, perceived to be more important to endurance athletes. Although that remains the case, the importance of carbohydrate can be overlooked by some of the other sports including high intensity intermittent and strength and power sports.

Carbohydrate is the main fuel which can be utilised rapidly at high intensity, so when an athlete is working more anaerobically, then the rate at which carbohydrate is used becomes greater. Put simply, fat and protein alone cannot be utilised rapidly as fuels for exercising muscles and so carbohydrate remains an important fuel for both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems.

It is important to highlight though that strength and power athletes may not require as much carbohydrate as endurance athletes - weight for weight - the correct timings and amounts of carbohydrate required to support their training and performances are still critical. The important point is matching it to the requirements of the sport and associated training plus the requirements of the individual athlete.

Carbohydrate also plays a vitally important role in recovery from training; if athletes consume inadequate carbohydrates, recovery will be poor, and the knock-on effect is felt in subsequent training sessions, where the achievable quality of a session will shown to be diminished.

Typically, pastas, bananas, and cereals are good sources of carbohydrate, but eating a wide-range of different carbohydrate foods is useful – bread, potatoes, vegetables, fresh fruit, porridge – as they all supply a different range of vitamins and minerals. If an athlete were to eat only one or two types of carbohydrate, they would miss out on certain vitamins and minerals.

Just how much carbohydrate you need depends on your level of training – the more glucose you use the more carbohydrate you need to eat to replenish your stores. General daily carbohydrate targets can be provided in terms of body size and training level. See the table below to work out the amount of carbohydrate – expressed in grams per day for every kilogram you weigh – your training programme requires.