On Feb 01, 2006, at 12:09 am, [log in to unmask] wrote:

> The following study has been cited by Atkins nutritionals and  
> others, perhaps on this discussion group, as evidence of lack of  
> any adverse impact of reduced carb intake on on endurance  
> athletes.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi? 
> cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=6865776&itool=iconabstr 
> &query_hl=8&itool=pubmed_docsum

John,

Thanks for that.  Unfortunately I have already won the low-medium  
endurance (eg marathon) argument- by which I mean the person in  
question will no longer speak about it.  Now we are on to 75%+ VO2  
max, which as far as I am concerned means that an athlete running at  
8 floobles per second will use 13 kilowibbles more energy than a cow  
on the moon.

The article you quote says essentially the same as the one I found  
about rats - that endurance is not hindered by eliminating  
carbohydrates.  However, they exercised at an intensity of 62%-64%  
VO2 max, and apparently exercising at 90% VO2 max cannot be sustained  
by fat and protein metabolism.


> Somewhere I was able to get the entire text but I can't find the  
> link now.  It compared cyclists' performance after the test group  
> had two weeks to adapt to a ketogenic diet and found no significant  
> change in endurance.  Some other studies have looked at the same  
> issue but you have to be careful that they give the body time to  
> adjust to fat-burning as the primary energy source.

I made the mistake of pointing out that the rats subsequently given  
carbohydrates benefitted from the extra energy.  (It was a mistake  
because nobody on this form actually READS the articles I link to,  
and I have to S-P-E-L-L O-U-T what they actually say.)   This was  
taken as proof that "carb loading" works, which has only reinforced  
the idea that carbohydrates are preferable to fat.

> Not that any of this will change the minds of your vegan friends!

Not in the slightest.  But it sure is fun taking pot shots at their  
faulty arguments :D  (I hope they don't read my posts here!)  I've  
spent 2 hours tonight collecting links and writing replies.  I think  
I'd be less exhausted if I took up running myself!!!

Ashley