Mr Guy Guppy

Research project: The influence of ketogenic or low carbohydrate diets alone or in combination with carbohydrate supplementation on ultra-endurance performance

Abstract

Over the past century, traditional high carbohydrate diets have dominated the research landscape. However, over the past 30 years, an ever-increasing body of literature has sought to investigate the role of low carbohydrate/ketogenic diets from both health and performance contexts. Yet, much of the literature in athletic populations has focused on power or endurance-based sports whereby exercise intensities exceed those where high-fat diets are expected to work. Therefore, much contention remains as to the optimal adaptation period and environments where low carbohydrate or ketogenic diets would be most beneficial.

Interestingly, activities such as ultra-endurance exercise that typically require lower exercise intensities and therefore, greater reliance on fat as a fuel source are still under-investigated and practitioners rely on extrapolating existing data from non-contextualised studies. Therefore, the project seeks to establish the adaptation period, characteristics and performance impact of ketogenic diets in ultra-endurance athletes.