Nutritional intake and body composition changes in a UCI World Tour cycling team during the Tour of Spain

Abstract

The aim of this study was to quantify the food intake of an International Cyclist Union (UCI) World Tour professional cyclist team and to analyse changes in body composition during the Tour of Spain. Nine male professional road cyclists (31.3 ± 3.0 years) volunteered to participate in the study. Nutritional data were collected each day throughout the 3-week Tour by two trained investigators who weighed the food ingested by the cyclists. Mean nutritional intake of the cyclists was as follows: carbohydrate, 12.5 ± 1.8 g/kg/day of body weight (BW) (65.0 ± 5.9%); fat, 1.5 ± 0.5 g/kg/day BW (17.9 ± 5.6%); and protein, 3.3 ± 0.3 g/kg/day BW (17.1 ± 1.6%). Intake of all micronutrients, except for folate, vitamin D and potassium (which were 78.7%, 46% and 84% of Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA), respectively), exceeded the RDA. Height, weight, skinfolds, circumferences and diameters were taken following the guidelines outlined by the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry. Body density, body fat percentage, muscle mass, total muscle mass and fat mass of the arms and thighs were calculated. Percentage body fat, fat mass and upper arm fat mass significantly decreased (p < .05) after the Tour independent of the equation method used in the calculations. Total muscle mass remained unchanged. Generally, this sample of cyclists consumed more protein and less fat than the recommended amount and had low weight, BMI and fat mass. It is suggested that sports nutritionists design personalised diets in order to maintain a correct proportion of nutrients as well as controlling possible anthropometrical changes that could affect performance.

Impact of Magnesium Supplementation in Muscle Damage of Professional Cyclists Competing in a Stage Race

“…Cyclists are one of these susceptible populations because they undergo a significant decrease in body compartments that store Mg. In this context, body fat percentage, fat mass and upper arm fat mass significantly decreased after a long cycling stage race [25]. For this reason, we decided to test the effects of Mg supplementation on performance and muscle integrity in cyclists.…”

Carbohydrate improves exercise capacity but does not affect subcellular lipid droplet morphology, AMPK and p53 signalling in human skeletal muscle

“…The initial trial was a full familiarisation with the exercise protocol (where water only was consumed during exercise) and in the following three trials, subjects ingested CHO at a rate of 0, 45 or 90 g h −1 in the form of solids, gels and fluids during the exercise bouts. These CHO ingestion regimens replicated the typical feeding patterns of professional cyclists during competition (Heikura et al 2019;Muros et al 2019). Each experimental trial was commenced after a 36-h CHO loading protocol (12 g kg −1 ) and 3 h after consumption of a pre-exercise meal that was rich in CHO (2 g kg −1 ).…”

Functional properties of Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.): a comprehensive review

“…The generally known goal of supplement intake and functional product production is to improve the health of consumers. Prohealth ingredients of functional food products and supplements can include mineral components (i.e., calcium, iron, magnesium), pro-and prebiotics, fiber, essential unsaturated fatty acids (n-3 and n-6), soy protein, isoflavones (i.e., genistein) and others [110,111]. Dietary supplements regularly contain preparations of leaves, which are either not normally consumed in the diet, or they are not functional food ingredients [112,113].…”