If anyone asked me what one of America’s greatest strengths was as a country, I would say marketing and media.
Every you look and go, there are ads, testimonials and celebrity endorsements advocating this product over that product and this benefit over that benefit. Nutritional products abound with all kinds of hype like “Lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks – guaranteed!” and “Gain lean muscle mass overnight!” I am always skeptical of such claims.
Ergogenic or Placebo Effect?
There’s a famous picture from the grueling Tour de France bicycle race many years ago showing the riders sharing a cigarette before the start of a long climb because they believed that smoking a cigarette helped open up their lungs and therefore provided an ergogenic (i.e. performance enhancing) effect. Whether or not smoking actually worked, the riders believed it worked at the time so they smoked a cigarette. The key word here is “believed.”
During exercise, our bodies use carbohydrates as a fuel source. It is generally well accepted in endurance sports circles that drinking water with carbohydrate mixed in, such as Hammer Nutrition’s HEED powder mix or Gatorade Endurance Formula, during endurance exercise like cycling or long distance running boosts performance compared to drinking water alone. There are countless studies showing performance improvement.
But what if cyclists believed they were drinking a carbohydrate solution – would their belief be strong enough to induce an ergogenic effect to still improve performance?
In other words, is the ergogenic effect attributed to drinking a carbohydrate drink truly performance enhancing or simply a placebo effect of “belief” that is been created by the American marketing and media machine to promise benefits in order to sell products?
The Study
Researchers Carl J. Hulston and Asker E. Jeukendrup from the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Birmingham (UK), recently reported a study1 on this very question: Is there a placebo effect from the belief in drinking a carbohydrate solution during endurance exercise as compared to drinking plain water?
The two hypothesized that a placebo effect did exist and that there would be some benefit over drinking plain old water, but that the performance improvement would be significantly less than real benefit of drinking an actual carbohydrate solution.
Their study tested 10 well-trained cyclists who performed three randomly ordered test trials using one of the following for each test:
Each trial consisted of a 2 hour fixed duration steady state effort followed by time trial to be completed as fast as possible and designed to last about an hour based on a fixed amount of work to be performed.
What made this test different than prior tests were that the subjects were told that the they were testing the effects of plain water versus a carbohydrate solution – they were not told that one of the two flavored drinks was only plain water. Since it tasted the same, the athletes would think the flavored solution contained carbohydrate and therefore, the researchers hypothesized, expect improved performance over water alone (assuming there was a placebo effect). In addition, each test trial lasted about 3 hours, which simulates a prolonged endurance event whereby the bodies limited carbohydrate stores could become depleted – AKA "bonking" or “hitting the wall” in a marathon.
To randomize the test as much as possible, the tests were performed a week apart at the same time of day and randomly assigned. The subjects were instructed to eat the same diet and perform the same amount of exercise in the two days leading up to each test. During the fixed work time trial at the end, the cyclists had no feedback other than work remaining to completion nor did they receive any verbal cues from the testers.
Not Marketing Hype
As expected, the study showed that drinking water with carbohydrate does enhance performance by 11.3% compared to water alone ( (59.7 +/-2.87 minutes at 242 +/-27 Watts vs. 66.35+/-6.15 minutes at 218+/-22 Watts for the time trial). There is an ergogenic effect.
What is surprising was that there was no placebo effect for the flavored water (65.94 +/-5.56 minutes at 219 +/-17 Watts for the time trial) at least for the test as designed. There is no ergogenic effect. The results make sense from a science standpoint as carbohydrate provides energy at a higher rate than fat so maintaining blood glucose levels means more carbohydrate is available as a fuel source resulting in more energy availability for higher intensity, faster efforts.
What Does It All Mean?
Drinking water with carbohydrate (not just flavoring) provides an ergogenic effect and improves performance for prolonged endurance events.
BUT, it’s not enough to merely drink something that simply tastes good and believe you’ll go faster, but you need to consume the carbohydrate calories as well.
Live strongly and boldly!
David —- David B. Glover, MS, CSCS
Author of Full Time and Sub-Nine: Fitting Iron Distance Training into Every Day Life
Triathlon Coach, Athlete and Writer
Web: enduranceworks.net
1 Source: Huston, Carl J. and Asker E. Jeukendrup, “No Placebo Effect from Carbohydrate Intake During Prolonged Exercise,” International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 19 (2009): 275-284.
© 2010 David B. Glover
Whether you're training to win a triathlon, training to finish or just need inspiration from my life journey as a cancer survivor, Navy officer and sub-nine hour Ironman triathlete, my book will inspire you to chase your dreams and live life richly and boldly.
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