Sugar is often labelled as being “bad” for health. Some headlines claim sugar causes obesity, as well as cancer, cardiovascular disease or premature death. In contrast, sugars are labelled as “good” ...

Let's look at the absorption process close-up. Absorption is the process of moving a nutrient from the intestinal lumen into the bodies’ circulation (from left to right in the figure below). In this ...

Many athletes have experienced muscle cramping during or after exercise, at some point in their sporting career. It is difficult to assess how many athletes suffer from muscle cramps, as some athletes ...

In a couple of earlier blogs, we discussed that carbohydrate oxidation from drinks, gels and bars that are ingested, can be utilized (oxidized) by the body at rates up to 60 g/h. If an endurance ...

Ketone esters have received a lot of attention amongst elite athletes but also in the media. Athletes have used ketones for the fuel they can provide, but there is increasing evidence that ketones act ...

When we recommend carbohydrate intake for the day, it is often expressed as grams per kg bodyweight. For example, for most sports this will be between 5 and 8 g/kg with values up to 12 g/kg on some ...

We have probably all read how, if you sweat heavily and you see white salty marks on your clothing or skin, you are a “salty sweater” - a person who loses a lot of salt during exercise. Those ...

Early studies into the delivery of caffeine in chewing gum were conducted with a military purpose. The military use caffeine to stay awake, improve alertness, mood and performance. All of these ...

The studies by David Costill in the late 1970s (2) showed that caffeine can increase the mobilisation of fatty acids from their stores. Fat is stored in several tissues but mostly in adipose tissues.

Caffeine is both a drug and a nutrient. A cup of coffee in the morning is used to wake up a cup in the evening is often used to work or study late. Athletes often use it to improve endurance ...

An interesting review (1) was published recently re-igniting the discussion whether women will ever outperform men in ultra-endurance events. Males tend to outperform females in a number of sports.

Sodium plays several essential roles during exercise. Firstly, sodium plays a crucial role in water balance. It does this due to its effect on osmolality of the extracellular fluid (fluid in the ...