Research
Energy balance
Ingesting carbohydrates during endurance exercise (30-60g/hour) sustains blood glucose and improves performance, while adding protein (CHO:PRO ratio 3-4:1) further enhances endurance performance and glycogen re-synthesis.
For any endurance activity lasting over an hour, drink a 6-8% carbohydrate solution (8-16 oz) every 10-15 minutes. If you want to maximize performance and recovery, add protein to create a 3:1 or 4:1 carb-to-protein ratio. This keeps your blood sugar stable and helps you go longer.
StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
Adding PRO to create a CHO:PRO ratio of 3 – 4:1 may increase endurance performance and maximally promotes glycogen re-synthesis during acute and subsequent bouts of endurance exercise.
Why this rating
Extensive literature cited (Refs 6, 15, 33-36, 42, 49, 57, 58) supports CHO and CHO+PRO benefits.
Source
International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Nutrient timing
Chad M. Kerksick et al. · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2008
DOI 10.1186/1550-2783-5-17
narrative_reviewCited 465×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Pre-exercise ingestion of essential amino acids or protein, alone or combined with carbohydrates, maximally stimulates muscle protein synthesis and promotes greater strength gains compared to placebo or carbohydrate-only interventions.Good
- Post-exercise ingestion of carbohydrates (8-10 g/kg/day) within 30 minutes maximizes muscle glycogen re-synthesis, and adding protein (0.2-0.5 g/kg/day) at a 3-4:1 ratio further enhances this re-synthesis.Good
- Ingesting carbohydrates or carbohydrates combined with protein during resistance exercise offsets muscle glycogen decrements, reduces markers of muscle damage, and promotes greater training adaptations (strength and muscle cross-sectional area) compared to placebo.Good
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