The effect of diet manipulations on aerobic performance

The purpose of this study was to examine the metabolic consequences of a moderate variation in dietary fat content of male endurance athletes during submaximal exercise. Six males (age, 29.8 +/- 11 years; weight, 72.3 +/- 10 kg) with an average maximum oxygen uptake (VO(2max)) of 66 +/- 10 ml/kg/min were tested on their normal diet and 3 experimental diets. The energy contributions from protein, carbohydrates, and fats were 16/59/22 (3% alcohol), 14/53/33, 13/72/15, and 16/61/23% for the normal diet (N), fat supplemented diet (F), high carbohydrate diet (C), and adjusted normal diet (AN), respectively. The F diet was designed to significantly increase fat content compared to the normal diet and be easily maintained by the athletes. Caloric content of the F, C, and AN diets were adjusted to meet estimated total daily energy expenditure. The difference between the N and AN diets is that the AN has been adjusted to meet estimated total daily energy expenditure. The diets were randomly assigned after substrate utilization testing on the N diet and were consumed for 7 days prior to testing. Substrate utilization was recorded at steady state (73 +/- 1.4% of VO(2max)) while running on a treadmill for 40 min. There were no significant differences in respiratory exchange ratio between any of the dietary manipulations. No significant differences were observed for lactate, VO2, or HR during submaximal testing on the N, F, C, and AN diets. These data indicate that a fat supplemented diet did not affect substrate utilization during 40 min of steady-state submaximal exercise when compared to a high carbohydrate diet or the participant's normal and adjusted normal diets.