The Effects of Dietary Glycemic Index on Exercise Performance: Review of Current Evidence

The quantity and quality of dietary carbohydrate intake is of great importance in enhancing exercise performance. Therefore, several studies have investigated the role of glycemic index (GI) in exercise performance.This study aimed to review the current evidence on carbohydrate consumption with different glycemic indices on exercise performance.

We searched PubMed for related publications using "exercise" and "glycemic index" as keywords. This search considered papers that had been published between 1990 and 2010 and had human subjects.

Consumption of low-glycemic index carbohydrates before the exercise results in enhancing of the exercise performance was controversy. The quantity of the carbohydrate is much more important than its quality in exercise performance in elite athletes. Consumption of high glycemic index foods after the games has been consistently reported as a factor in enhancing the exercise performance.

Due to the consistent findings on the effect of high glycemic index foods during and after exercise on performance, it seems that future investigations should focus on meals before the exercise.