Availability of glucose given orally during exercise

Abstract

Adequate utilization of glucose given orally during prolonged muscular exercise remains a matter of controversy. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the time when glucose is ingested during exercise affects exogenous glucose disposal. Nine healthy male volunteers were submitted to a 4-h period of treadmill exercise at about 45% of their maximum O2 consumption. A 100-g load of naturally labeled [13C]glucose was given orally after 120 min (5 subj, group A) or 15 min (4 subj, group B) of exercise. In the 2 h after glucose ingestion, total carbohydrate oxidation (indirect calorimetry) was similar in both groups (A: 147 +/- 12 g/2 h; B: 135 +/- 12 g/2 h) as was lipid oxidation (A: 51 +/- 4 g/2 h; B: 57 +/- 11 g/2 h). Exogenous glucose oxidation was 54 +/- 2 g/h in group A vs. 55 +/- 6 g/2 h in group B. The blood glucose response to oral glucose was similar in the two conditions, whereas the C-peptide response, already modest, was further blunted when glucose was ingested after 2 h of exercise compared with the response observed after 15 min. In conclusion, glucose ingestion during prolonged exercise of moderate intensity is effectively oxidized, 55% of the load given being recovered as expired CO2 within 2 h; utilization of glucose given orally is similar when ingestion takes place 15 or 120 min after initiation of exercise.