Carbohydrate Snacks: Can you save money, and achieve the same benefits, by making your own?
Carbohydrate Snacks: Can you save money, and achieve the same benefits, by making your own?
That was precisely the question asked recently by two researchers, Douglas Padden-Jones of the Human Performance Laboratory, Bull State University, Indiana, and David Pearson of the University of Queensland, Australia. They devised an experiment to determine the cost-effectiveness of pre-exercise carbohydrate (CHO) meals and their effect on endurance performance
First they formulated four different 460kcal pre-exercise meals consisting of: a) an oat-based CHO/fat/protein cereal (Combo); b) an oat-based CHO cereal (Oat); c) a wheat-based CHO cereal (Wheat); and d), a fructose-based CHO/protein/ vitamin sports bar. They then selected eight endurance-trained male subjects, all of whom had a minimum VO2max of 55ml/kg/min, and previous intense exposure to the ergometer and techniques used in the study
The evening preceding each trial, each athlete was subjected to a 60-minute bout of cycling at 70% VO2max, and then asked to consume an 800kcal meal and one litre of water one hour after the ride. The following morning (10 hours later), in a fasted state, the athletes were again subjected to exercise, this time a 30-minute bout at 70% VO2max, immediately followed by six one-minute sprints at a power output of 110% of the workload produced at VO2max. All this was demanded of the athletes before the actual experimental tests began! Why? So as to standardise the endogenous glycogen availability in each athlete for all four tests, and thus eliminate any external food sources, taken between tests, from manipulating the results
Now the performance tests were ready to begin. Thirty minutes after the last of the one-minute sprints, the subjects were required to consume, randomly, one of the 460kcal meals within a 10-minute period, and two hours later were to ride for 60 minutes with the aim of covering as much ground as possible. Distance, heart rate, oxygen consumption, respiratory exchange ratio (RER) and blood glucose levels were taken and monitored during this period. The amount of water consumed during the first trial was also recorded, and the same amount was provided during the remaining three trials (when the athletes repeated the procedure but took different meals)
The researchers found that there were no significant differences in blood glucose concen-trations before, after and during each performance trial regardless of which meal the athletes consumed. Mean heart rates did not change significantly during the trials, nor did VO2max or RER values. After examining the data and discussing the results, the scientists concluded that consuming a leading commercial sports bar prior to exercise would not offer any performance advantage over a simple home-made isocalorific meal
So how much could you save by making your own? The researchers reckoned that, assuming an athlete trains/competes six times a week and ingests two mid-priced sports bars as a pre-exercise meal, it would cost about $25 a week. If the same athlete were to make a simple pre-exercise meal containing the same amount of calories and which cost about $8 a week, he/she would save $17 (about £10.50) a week. With this in mind, you could save yourself £40 a month, which would buy a new pair of trainers, or about £546 a year, which could pay for your warm-weather training during the winter
(Paddon-Jones, D.J., et al (1998). 'Cost-effectiveness of pre-exercise carbohydrate meals and their impact on endurance performance.' J Strength and Cond Res, 12 (2): 90-94)
Jamie Mcloughlin