PhD Scientific Days 2022

Clinical Medicine I. (Poster discussion will take place in the Aula during the Coffee Break)

Exercise Blood Glucose Response in Athletes on Vita Maxima Treadmill Test

Text of the abstract

Introduction: Sport performance, muscle work efficiency and fatigue is determined by training status but also affected by carbohydrate intake and restoration of muscle glycogen stores.
Aims: Our aim was to study the blood glucose response to exercise and the correlations with body composition and exercise testing parameters during vita maxima treadmill test.
Method: Sports cardiology screening exams: patient history, laboratory tests, ECG, echocardiography, body composition analysis, cardiopulmonary exercise test with 2 minute lactate measurements and blood glucose measurements at rest, peak exercise, and at 5-minute recovery. 4 groups were created according to exercise glucose response based on the rest-peak and peak-recovery change: decrease-increase (De-In), increase-increase (In-In), increase-decrease (In-De), decrease-decrease (De-De).
Results: 353 tests of 227 elite athletes (19,4 ± 5,8 years; 188 male; 97 basketball players, 91 swimmers, 39 football players) were included. Athletes with resting blood glucose level between 4.3-6.0 mmol/L (n =291) had lower peak lactate (8.8 ± 2.4 vs. 9.6 ± 3.0 mmol/L, p<0.05) than those with blood glucose above 6.0 mmol/L (n = 62). Based on blood glucose response to exercise, the distribution of the 4 groups are: De-In, n = 176 (50%); In-In, n = 165 (47%); In-De, n = 11 (3%); De-De, n = 1. The De-In group had better performance (352.3 ± 68.2 vs. 336.6 ± 72.8 watts, p<0.05) and lower peak lactate (8.6 ± 2.5 vs. 9.4 ± 2.5 mmol/L, p = 0.001) compared to the In-In group. Male swimmers in the In-In group had higher VO2max compared to the male swimmers in the De-In group (59.8 ± 4.2 vs. 57.4 ± 5.3 ml/min/kg, p <0.05). Male swimmers in the In-In group had lower body fat percentage compared to the male swimmers in the De-In group (9.7 ± 2.3 vs. 11.0 ± 3.3%, p<0.05).
Conclusion: In half of the cases, peak exercise blood glucose level was lower than resting, which was associated with better performance and lower peak lactate values. Measuring and monitoring blood glucose can help to develop personalized training plans and sports nutrition strategies to increase athletic performance.
Funding: Project no. TKP2021-NKTA-46 has been implemented with the support provided by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Hungary from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund, financed under the TKP2021-NKTA funding scheme.