{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/3241"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/3241","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Nutritional strategies for endurance and ultra-endurance cycling","abstract":"Ingestion of a high carbohydrate (CHO) diet (7-10 g CHO/kg body mass) for 3 days, typically referred to as ‘CHO-loading’, is a commonly recommended dietary practice for endurance sporting events lasting >90 minutes. CHOloading effectively maximizes muscle glycogen stores and has been shown to enhance prolonged exercise performance. However, the body’s glycogen stores are limited, therefore a dietary strategy that would not only increase CHO availability but also ‘spare’ muscle glycogen during exercise may be more beneficial during prolonged exercise compared to a standard CHO-loading diet. Preliminary studies in which athletes ingested a high fat diet (4-4.6 g fat/kg body mass) for 5-6 days followed by 1 day of CHO-loading have been shown to increase fat oxidation and ‘spare’ muscle glycogen during prolonged exercise compared to a high CHO diet. However, the effectiveness of a high fat diet followed by CHO-loading has not been tested in self-paced endurance and ultra-endurance events. Further, there is little available evidence concerning the pre-event habitual dietary practices of ultra-endurance athletes. It is possible that athletes and cyclists competing in endurance and ultra-endurance events have diets which may differ in macronutrient content compared to that typically recommended for endurance events. As a result, athletes may not respond in a similar way to diets typically recommended for endurance and ultra-endurance events, such as CHO-loading. The aims of this thesis were therefore: (1) to characterize the habitual dietary intakes of sub-elite male cyclists before and during an ultra-endurance event; (2) to investigate the effects of different dietary strategies aimed at increasing carbohydrate availability and ‘sparing’ muscle glycogen (e.g. CHO-loading and fat-adaptation), on substrate utilization and exercise performance during simulated endurance and ultra-endurance exercise; and (3) to investigate the individual responsiveness of athletes to these dietary strategies.","abstract_html":"Ingestion of a high carbohydrate (CHO) diet (7-10 g CHO/kg body mass) for 3 days, typically referred to as ‘CHO-loading’, is a commonly recommended dietary practice for endurance sporting events lasting >90 minutes. CHOloading effectively maximizes muscle glycogen stores and has been shown to enhance prolonged exercise performance. However, the body’s glycogen stores are limited, therefore a dietary strategy that would not only increase CHO availability but also ‘spare’ muscle glycogen during exercise may be more beneficial during prolonged exercise compared to a standard CHO-loading diet. Preliminary studies in which athletes ingested a high fat diet (4-4.6 g fat/kg body mass) for 5-6 days followed by 1 day of CHO-loading have been shown to increase fat oxidation and ‘spare’ muscle glycogen during prolonged exercise compared to a high CHO diet. However, the effectiveness of a high fat diet followed by CHO-loading has not been tested in self-paced endurance and ultra-endurance events. Further, there is little available evidence concerning the pre-event habitual dietary practices of ultra-endurance athletes. It is possible that athletes and cyclists competing in endurance and ultra-endurance events have diets which may differ in macronutrient content compared to that typically recommended for endurance events. As a result, athletes may not respond in a similar way to diets typically recommended for endurance and ultra-endurance events, such as CHO-loading. The aims of this thesis were therefore: (1) to characterize the habitual dietary intakes of sub-elite male cyclists before and during an ultra-endurance event; (2) to investigate the effects of different dietary strategies aimed at increasing carbohydrate availability and ‘sparing’ muscle glycogen (e.g. CHO-loading and fat-adaptation), on substrate utilization and exercise performance during simulated endurance and ultra-endurance exercise; and (3) to investigate the individual responsiveness of athletes to these dietary strategies.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Haveman, Lize"],"institution":"Department of Human Biology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Goedecke, Jula"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2008,"date_issued":"2008","date_published":"2008","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:35Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3241","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Goedecke, Jula"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Haveman, Lize"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-07-28T18:16:36Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-07-28T18:16:36Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2008"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Human Biology"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Doctoral Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3241"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Includes abstract.","Includes bibliographical references."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Ingestion of a high carbohydrate (CHO) diet (7-10 g CHO/kg body mass) for 3 days, typically referred to as ‘CHO-loading’, is a commonly recommended dietary practice for endurance sporting events lasting >90 minutes. CHOloading effectively maximizes muscle glycogen stores and has been shown to enhance prolonged exercise performance. However, the body’s glycogen stores are limited, therefore a dietary strategy that would not only increase CHO availability but also ‘spare’ muscle glycogen during exercise may be more beneficial during prolonged exercise compared to a standard CHO-loading diet. Preliminary studies in which athletes ingested a high fat diet (4-4.6 g fat/kg body mass) for 5-6 days followed by 1 day of CHO-loading have been shown to increase fat oxidation and ‘spare’ muscle glycogen during prolonged exercise compared to a high CHO diet. However, the effectiveness of a high fat diet followed by CHO-loading has not been tested in self-paced endurance and ultra-endurance events. Further, there is little available evidence concerning the pre-event habitual dietary practices of ultra-endurance athletes. It is possible that athletes and cyclists competing in endurance and ultra-endurance events have diets which may differ in macronutrient content compared to that typically recommended for endurance events. As a result, athletes may not respond in a similar way to diets typically recommended for endurance and ultra-endurance events, such as CHO-loading. The aims of this thesis were therefore: (1) to characterize the habitual dietary intakes of sub-elite male cyclists before and during an ultra-endurance event; (2) to investigate the effects of different dietary strategies aimed at increasing carbohydrate availability and ‘sparing’ muscle glycogen (e.g. CHO-loading and fat-adaptation), on substrate utilization and exercise performance during simulated endurance and ultra-endurance exercise; and (3) to investigate the individual responsiveness of athletes to these dietary strategies."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Nutritional strategies for endurance and ultra-endurance cycling"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Goedecke, Jula"],"dc:creator":["Haveman, Lize"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-07-28T18:16:36Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-07-28T18:16:36Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2008"],"dc:description":["Includes abstract.","Includes bibliographical references."],"dc:description.abstract":["Ingestion of a high carbohydrate (CHO) diet (7-10 g CHO/kg body mass) for 3 days, typically referred to as ‘CHO-loading’, is a commonly recommended dietary practice for endurance sporting events lasting >90 minutes. CHOloading effectively maximizes muscle glycogen stores and has been shown to enhance prolonged exercise performance. However, the body’s glycogen stores are limited, therefore a dietary strategy that would not only increase CHO availability but also ‘spare’ muscle glycogen during exercise may be more beneficial during prolonged exercise compared to a standard CHO-loading diet. Preliminary studies in which athletes ingested a high fat diet (4-4.6 g fat/kg body mass) for 5-6 days followed by 1 day of CHO-loading have been shown to increase fat oxidation and ‘spare’ muscle glycogen during prolonged exercise compared to a high CHO diet. However, the effectiveness of a high fat diet followed by CHO-loading has not been tested in self-paced endurance and ultra-endurance events. Further, there is little available evidence concerning the pre-event habitual dietary practices of ultra-endurance athletes. It is possible that athletes and cyclists competing in endurance and ultra-endurance events have diets which may differ in macronutrient content compared to that typically recommended for endurance events. As a result, athletes may not respond in a similar way to diets typically recommended for endurance and ultra-endurance events, such as CHO-loading. The aims of this thesis were therefore: (1) to characterize the habitual dietary intakes of sub-elite male cyclists before and during an ultra-endurance event; (2) to investigate the effects of different dietary strategies aimed at increasing carbohydrate availability and ‘sparing’ muscle glycogen (e.g. CHO-loading and fat-adaptation), on substrate utilization and exercise performance during simulated endurance and ultra-endurance exercise; and (3) to investigate the individual responsiveness of athletes to these dietary strategies."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3241"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["Department of Human Biology"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:title":["Nutritional strategies for endurance and ultra-endurance cycling"],"dc:type":["Doctoral Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:35Z"}