Research

Mixed

Ingesting carbohydrate during 60 minutes of submaximal running or cycling increases plasma glucose oxidation but does not reduce (spare) mixed muscle glycogen utilization compared to water ingestion.

If you are exercising for about an hour at a moderate intensity (where you can speak in short sentences), drinking a carbohydrate solution will increase the amount of sugar your blood burns for energy. However, it will NOT save your muscle glycogen stores compared to drinking water. You should still consume carbohydrates to maintain blood glucose levels, but do not expect it to extend your endurance by saving muscle fuel during this specific duration and intensity.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
We conclude that, compared with water, 1) the ingestion of carbohydrate during running and cycling enhanced the contribution of plasma glucose oxidation to total carbohydrate oxidation but 2) did not attenuate mixed muscle glycogen utilization during 1 h of continuous submaximal exercise at individual lactate threshold.
Melissa J. Arkinstall et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2001

Why this rating

Randomized crossover design with direct muscle biopsies and tracer methods, though small sample size (n=7).

Source

Effect of carbohydrate ingestion on metabolism during running and cycling

Melissa J. Arkinstall et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2001

DOI 10.1152/jappl.2001.91.5.2125

crossover · n=7Cited 62×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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