Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Carbohydrate ingestion (30-60 g/h) during prolonged endurance exercise attenuates post-exercise inflammation and stress hormone elevation.
For workouts lasting longer than 90 minutes, consume 30-60 grams of carbohydrates per hour. This helps manage stress hormones and inflammation, aiding recovery compared to drinking only water.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
A consistent finding is that carbohydrate intake during prolonged and intense exercise... is associated with higher plasma glucose and insulin levels, lower plasma stress hormones (epinephrine and cortisol)... and reduced inflammation as measured by a variety of biomarkers
Why this rating
Supported by multiple studies summarized in Table 3.
Source
The compelling link between physical activity and the body's defense system
David C. Nieman et al. · Journal of sport and health science/Journal of Sport and Health Science · 2018
DOI 10.1016/j.jshs.2018.09.009
narrative_reviewCited 1,299×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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