Nutrition

Potato Puree Helps Performance and Endurance

Athletes are always looking for ways to boost their performance and endurance, often reaching for carbohydrate energy gels before a race. But new research indicates that potato puree may be just as effective in terms of sustained blood glucose.

Studying performance and endurance

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recruited cyclists to test the effects of potato puree against carb energy gels in terms of performance and endurance.

The cyclists were split into three groups:

Group 1 got potato puree.

Group 2 got carb gel.

Group 3 got water only.

All the cyclists’ food intake was standardized for 24 hours before the trial and each cyclist experienced all three race fuels.

The scientists measured and monitored things like exercise intensity, blood glucose and blood lactate, core body temps, heart rate and gastric emptying, as well as reported gastrointestinal symptoms.

Groups 1 and 2 performed equally well and had better time trial performances than the water-only group. 

“We found no differences between the performance of cyclists who got their carbohydrates by ingesting potatoes or gels at recommended amounts of about 60 grams per hour during the experiments,” says senior study author and professor of kinesiology and community health Nicholas A. Burd.

The advantages and disadvantages of potato puree

The good news is that potatoes are very inexpensive and offer a savory alternative to many of the sweet carbohydrate gels on the market.

The bad news is that the potato puree did cause some bloating, pain and flatulence. The researchers believe that this is because it takes more potato puree to yield the same amount of glucose as that found in sweet carb gels.

 “Nevertheless, average symptoms were lower than previous studies,” explain the authors, “indicting that both (carbohydrate) conditions were well tolerated by the majority of the study’s cyclists.”

 The results were published in Journal of Applied Physiology.

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