Effect of a vegetable-based beverage on endurance performance following prior exercise bout

corresponding

CHRISTINE A. KARPINSKI1*, RYAN SALTZMAN2, KALI J. OBERHOLTZER2,
JOSHUA C. ANTHONY3, MELISSA A. REED2 
*Corresponding author
1. Department of Nutrition, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, West Chester, USA
2. Department of Kinesiology, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, West Chester, USA
3. Campbell Soup Company, USA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a vegetable-based beverage on time to exhaustion following glycogen-depleting exercise.  Twenty-eight adult endurance athletes participated in this randomized, crossover study.  Participants completed three trials that consisted of a glycogen depletion session, a four-hour recovery, and an endurance trial on a cycle ergometer.  Vegetable juice (VJ), a commercial sports drink (CD), and flavored water (FW) were randomly assigned to each participant for each of the three trials immediately after and at two hours into recovery.  Analysis determined VJ and FW were significantly different (p < 0.05).  This study suggests that ingesting this vegetable-based beverage during recovery from glycogen-depleting exercise results in a longer time to exhaustion than consuming flavored water.


INTRODUCTION

Several studies have explored the effectiveness of carbohydrate ingestion during a brief recovery on subsequent exercise performance, although results have been equivocal (1-6).  

An earlier study reported subjects ingesting 1 g. kg–1 BM two times during recovery ran longer in a subsequent exercise trial than those who consumed a placebo (3).  Three studies determined that a carbohydrate-electrolyte drink ingested during short-term recovery delayed time to exhaustion in a subsequent bout of moderate exercise, compared to sweetened water (4-6); however Wong et al. (4) found no difference in time to exhaustion when subjects consumed either 50 g or 175 g of carbohydrate.  

Studies that have looked at on the effectiveness of carbohydrate ingestion during a brief recovery on subsequent exercise performance have focused on the amount and timing of carbohydrate ingestion during recovery, but few have looked at the type of carbohydrate. On the contrary, the literature does support that ingesting a beverage containing multiple sources of carbohydrate during during prolonged exercise results in faster gastric emptying and intestinal absorpt ...