Abstract:
The purpose of this narrative review is to identify health and performance consequences associated with LCA in female endurance athletes. The intake of carbohydrates (CHO) before, during, and after exercise has been demonstrated to support sport performance, especially endurance activities which rely extensively on CHO as a fuel source. However, low energy availability (LEA) and low carbohydrate availability (LCA) are common in female athletes. LEA occurs when energy intake is insufficient compared to exercise energy expenditure, and LEA-related conditions (e.g., Female Athlete Triad (Triad) and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S)) are associated with a myriad of health and performance consequences. The RED-S model highlights 10 health consequences and 10 performance consequences related to LEA. The independent effect of LCA on health and performance has been under-researched, despite current CHO intake being commonly insufficient in athletes. It is proposed that LCA may not only contribute to LEA but also have independent health and performance consequences in athletes. Furthermore, this review highlights current recommendations for CHO intake, as well as recent data on LCA prevalence and menstrual cycle considerations. A literature review was conducted on PubMed, Science Direct, and ResearchGate using relevant search terms (i.e., \"low carbohydrate/energy availability\", \"female distance runners\"). Twenty-one articles were identified and twelve met the inclusion criteria. The total number of articles included in this review is 12, with 7 studies illustrating that LCA was associated with direct negative health and/or performance implications for endurance-based athletes. Several studies included assessed male athletes only, and no studies included a female-only study design. Overall, the cumulative data show that female athletes remain underrepresented in sports science research and that current CHO intake recommendations and strategies may fail to consider female-specific adaptations and hormone responses, such as monthly fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone throughout the menstrual cycle. Current CHO guidelines for female athletes and exercising women need to be audited and explored further in the literature to support female athlete health and performance.
摘要:
这篇叙述性综述的目的是确定女性耐力运动员与LCA相关的健康和表现后果。摄入碳水化合物(CHO)之前,during,在锻炼被证明可以支持运动表现之后,尤其是广泛依赖CHO作为燃料来源的耐力活动。然而,低能量利用率(LEA)和低碳水化合物利用率(LCA)在女运动员中很常见.与运动能量消耗相比,能量摄入不足时会发生LEA,和LEA相关条件(例如,女性运动员三合会(Triad)和运动中的相对能量不足(RED-S))与无数的健康和表现后果有关。RED-S模型突出了与LEA相关的10种健康后果和10种性能后果。LCA对健康和表现的独立影响研究不足,尽管目前运动员的CHO摄入量普遍不足。建议LCA不仅可能对LEA有贡献,而且对运动员的健康和表现也有独立的影响。此外,这篇评论强调了目前对CHO摄入量的建议,以及有关LCA患病率和月经周期因素的最新数据。在PubMed上进行了文献综述,科学直接,和ResearchGate使用相关搜索词(即,“低碳水化合物/能量可用性”,“女性长跑运动员”)。确定了21篇文章,其中12篇符合纳入标准。这篇综述中包含的文章总数为12,其中7项研究表明,LCA与耐力型运动员的直接负面健康和/或表现相关。几项研究仅包括评估男性运动员,没有研究包括女性研究设计。总的来说,累积数据显示,女性运动员在体育科学研究中的代表性仍然不足,目前的CHO摄入量建议和策略可能没有考虑女性特定的适应和激素反应,例如在整个月经周期中,雌激素和孕激素的每月波动。当前针对女运动员和锻炼妇女的CHO指南需要在文献中进行审核和进一步探讨,以支持女运动员的健康和表现。