Research
Energy balance
Ingesting carbohydrates during prolonged exercise improves performance by maintaining plasma glucose and sparing liver glycogen, regardless of whether the CHO is consumed in a single bolus or multiple smaller feedings, as long as the total amount is sufficient.
During long events (over 1 hour), consume carbohydrates (sports drinks, gels) regularly. It doesn't matter if you take a big gulp or small sips; your body absorbs them at a similar rate. Withholding fuel will hurt your performance.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
There is now strong evidence that increasing the availability of CHO during prolonged, moderate-intensity exercise can improve work capacity... The majority of well-controlled trials... have shown significant improvements in exercise 'performance' with CHO ingestion... withholding CHO until late in an exercise bout will impair performance... Rates of ingested CHO oxidation also appear to be unaffected by the use of different feeding schedules.
Why this rating
Review of multiple controlled trials and isotope studies.
Source
Effect of meal frequency and timing on physical performance
John A. Hawley et al. · British Journal Of Nutrition · 1997
DOI 10.1079/bjn19970107
narrative_reviewCited 100×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Consuming carbohydrates 3-4 hours before exercise significantly increases muscle and liver glycogen content and improves endurance performance compared to fasting, whereas consuming carbohydrates 30-60 minutes before exercise causes transient metabolic perturbations (hyperinsulinemia, hypoglycemia) that do not impair performance and may be beneficial.Good
- Consuming carbohydrates immediately after exercise maximizes the rate of muscle glycogen re-synthesis, which is critical when recovery time between sessions is short (4-8 hours), although total glycogen storage over 24 hours is similar regardless of feeding frequency if total intake is sufficient.Good
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