Does Exercise Intensity Influence Dietary Protein Requirements Of Male Endurance Athletes?
Adams, Carolyn P.; Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: July 2020 - Volume 52 - Issue 7S - p 103
Adequate protein intake is important for endurance athletes to replenish exercise-induced amino acid (AA) oxidation and support post-exercise muscle and whole body protein synthesis. High-intensity endurance exercise is associated with increased carbohydrate oxidation during exercise and greater protein turnover (synthesis and breakdown) after exercise relative to lower intensity exercise. Muscle glycogen depletion can increase AA oxidation during exercise and increase daily protein requirements.
PURPOSE: To determine the impact of exercise intensity during prolonged endurance exercise on estimates of dietary protein requirements in endurance athletes.
METHODS: Eight males (26±3y, 76±16kg; 62±6 ml O2·kg-1· min-1; mean±SD) completed two trials in a randomized order with exercise (20-km run) performed at a low (LOW; 72±1% HRmax, 55±5% VO2peak) or high (HIGH; 88±1%HRmax, 75±7% VO2peak) intensity. After 2 days of exercise and dietary (1.4g·kg-1·d-1 protein) control, participants consumed 0.6g·kg-1 CHO before a 20-km treadmill run with continuous HR monitoring and periodic measurement of gas exchange (indirect calorimetry). During the 8h post-exercise recovery period, participants consumed 8.6g·kg-1·d-1 CHO and hourly meals providing 0.93g ·kg-1·d-1 protein as crystalline AA modeled after egg protein, which was enriched with [13C]phenylalanine as an indicator AA. Breath and urine were collected at isotopic and metabolic steady state to determine phenylalanine excretion (F13CO2), flux (Q; estimate of protein breakdown), and oxidation (OX; reciprocal of protein synthesis).
RESULTS: Preliminary analysis (n=6) showed that respiratory exchange ratio during exercise was higher in HIGH vs. LOW (0.92±0.03 vs. 0.88±0.03, p<0.05), which corresponded to a 37% greater CHO oxidation rate in HIGH (3.12±0.76 vs. 1.96±0.52 g·min-1, p<0.01). Exercise duration was shorter in HIGH vs LOW (86±18 vs. 112±23 min, p<0.01). F13CO2 was not different between trials (HIGH: 0.94±0.25 vs. LOW: 0.89±0.14 umol·kg-1·h-1, p>0.05). Urinary analysis is ongoing to determine Q and OX.
CONCLUSION: Preliminary findings suggest that prolonged, high-intensity endurance exercise increases CHO oxidation during exercise but has little impact on estimates of protein requirements of male endurance athletes.