endurance and health

[Guest guest]

, DrGRPorter@a... wrote:

I can't imagine that someone who is seriously training

> for an endurance event can get along on 100g of carbohydrates per day

(Atkins

> maintenance level) and still work out for two or three hours at a time. I am

> skeptical of an athlete reporting that they both comply with this

> recommendation and train for endurance events.

 

The question this discussion raises in my mind is whether training for an

endurance event is a health promoting activity. In other words, while one may

need to eat a certain amount of carbohydrates in order to do endurance events,

does one's health improve by doing such events or eating such a way on a

regular basis. Or is the only improvement seen in endurance. Perhaps the body

is designed to operate this way when endurance is necessary, yet maybe this

is not necessarily optimal. The way to study this would be to do an

epidemiological study of carbo-loading endurance event participants and see

where they fall on continuum of health. It appears lifelong runners can expect

arthritic debility at a greater rate than non-runners. But they probably have

better cardio from all the exercise. How about cancer rates and

autoimmunity, etc. that would be interesting. I am thinking here not only of

the impact damage and excessive exercise (the latter a TCM cause of dz), but

also the biochemical damage from a high carb diet. My tai ji teacher said the

secret to health is not exerting oneself unless necessary. He felt endurance

training and other forms of excessive physical exertion were wholly

detrimental to health and the average person got the most benefit from light

exercise only.

 

[Guest guest]

At 5:31 PM +0000 1/16/04, wrote:

>The way to study this would be to do an

>epidemiological study of carbo-loading endurance event participants and see

>where they fall on continuum of health.

--

 

As a distance runner I've run 2 marathons and several sub-marathons

in the past couple of years, and frequently run 15 to 20 mile

training runs, I can say that except for competitive runs of 18 or

more miles, carbo-loading is unnecessary. Carbo-loading is a way of

temporarily increasing the stored glycogen available to muscles

involved in endurance activity. In any event carbo-loading is done

only for a few days prior to a race, and not as a regular feature of

training. As such it is very unlikely to have any untoward health

effects, as the glycogen is only temporarily stored and then used.

For long distance training, a high carb diet is unnecessary: as

fitness increases, the body accommodates to use any food according to

it's needs. All types of food can be a source of calories. A high

carb diet would simply cause me to put on weight, even though I run a

lot.

 

Assuming that the athlete has trained sufficiently to build fitness

and endurance, there appears always to be a point somewhere in the 18

to 20 mile range of a competitive run that the muscles run out of

normal stored resources (glycogen) and the body starts to have

difficulty with other balancing mechanisms such as fluids and

electolytes. That's what makes a marathon, at 26.2 miles, so

physically and mentally challenging: in the last few miles the body

is having to convert other resources to keep going, and the result of

it's failure to do so is pain. Extra supplementation of electrolytes

and calories is usually essential. The extent of the problem will be

somewhat worse in hot weather, because electrolyte loss is greater.

 

So far as overall health is concerned, I doubt if a study would show

that endurance athletes are below average, even if they do have

problems that result from their sports activities. OTOH I tend to

agree that for most people regular lighter exercise that includes

anaerobic as well as aerobic activity is probably optimal.

 

Rory

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