Muscle damage, fluid ingestion, and energy supplementation during recreational alpine skiing

This study examined energy and fluid supplementation on indices of muscle damage during alpine skiing. Skiers were assigned to a carbohydrate-protein (CP), placebo (PL), or no fluid (NF) group. CP and PL ingested 1.62 L during and after skiing. Myoglobin did not change from pre-skiing (PS) to 2 h post-skiing (2PS) for CP (24.8 +/- 1.4 and 25.6 +/- 1.6 ng/mL), but rose significantly from 26.4 +/- 1.3 to 40.0 +/- 2.8 ng/mL for PL and from 29.0 +/- 1.3 to 82.9 +/- 3.6 ng/mL for NF. Creatine kinase was maintained from PRE to 2 PS for CP, but increased significantly from 117 +/- 7.2 to 174 +/- 43.4 U/L for PL and from 126 +/- 23.2 to 243 +/- 34.3 U/L for NF. This study demonstrates that ingestion of a CP beverage minimized muscle damage indices during skiing compared to PL and NF and that ingesting fluids may also minimize muscle damage compared to a NF condition.