Exercise scientists teach that since muscle glycogen utilisation occurs at high rates (during high-intensity exercise in carbohydrate-adapted athletes), all athletes must be advised to ingest large amounts of carbohydrate before and during exercise. 2 But this does not seem entirely logical. Why, for example, should athletes involved in prolonged submaximal exercise—probably the most common for...

Background The health and weight control benefits of low carbohydrate diets are well established. Likewise, nutrient timing has been shown to effectively enhance exercise performance. However, there exists an apparent conflict between these two dietary strategies. In fact, many authorities consider high glycemic carbohydrates to be a necessary component of nutrient timing and there is no place ...

OBJECTIVE Low-fat hypocaloric diets reduce insulin resistance and prevent type 2 diabetes in those at risk. Low-carbohydrate, high-fat diets are advocated as an alternative, but reciprocal increases in dietary fat may have detrimental effects on insulin resistance and offset the benefits of weight reduction. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We investigated a low-fat (20% fat, 60% carbohydrate) ver...

The glycemic index concept is an extension of the fiber hypothesis, suggesting that fiber consumption reduces the rate of nutrient influx from the gut. The glycemic index has particular relevance to those chronic Western diseases associated with central obesity and insulin resistance. Early studies showed that starchy carbohydrate foods have very different effects on postprandial blood glucose ...

There are concerns that weight-loss (WL) diets based on very low carbohydrate (LC) intake have a negative impact on antioxidant status and biomarkers of cardiovascular and metabolic health. Obese men (n 16) participated in a randomised, cross-over design diet trial, with food provided daily, at approximately 8.3 MJ/d (approximately 70 % of energy maintenance requirements). They were provided wi...

BACKGROUND Low-carbohydrate weight-loss diets remain popular; however, the long-term effects of these diets are not known. OBJECTIVE The objective was to examine the association between low-carbohydrate-diet score and risk of type 2 diabetes DESIGN We prospectively examined the association between low-carbohydrate-diet score (based on percentage of energy as carbohydrate, fat, and protein) ...

The present paper covers the health benefits of low glycaemic index foods, such as pulses. Nutritional factors potentially play a crucial role in health and disease. A low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet is often recommended as a part of a healthy life-style. Historical works have shown that carbohydrate foods differ in their ability to affect post-ingestive glycaemia. The glycaemic index concept a...