Heat stress, acclimation and carbohydrate feeding during exercise
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Effects of acute heat stress and heat acclimation on exogenous carbohydrate oxidation during steady-state aerobic exercise
IRAS ID
301502
Contact name
Gareth A Wallis
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 6 months, 23 days
Research summary
During prolonged and strenuous exercise many sportspeople eat or drink carbohydrate-containing foods or drinks to provide an additional source of energy, which helps to delay the onset of fatigue. However, in hot environmental conditions carbohydrate fed during exercise is less effective as an energy source. This research aims to understand why carbohydrate fed during exercise in the heat is less effective as an energy source. The research also aims to test if becoming accustomed to exercising in the heat (i.e., heat acclimation) improves the body's capacity to use carbohydrate fed during exercise as an energy source.
The research is funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, and will be conducted at the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK). The research will recruit healthy participants from the Midlands region in the UK, aged 18 to 45 years who regularly participate in endurance-based exercise such as cycling, running and rowing. Participants would be involved in the research for ~6 continuous weeks, and the study will involve regularly undertaking exercise in simulated hot environmental conditions with a variety of procedures used such as blood, urine, muscle and expired breath sampling to assess physiological responses to exercise. Research participants will be able to learn about their physiology (e.g., fitness levels and sweat rates during exercise) as well as talk to experts about exercise training and nutrition during the course of the study.
If the research can reveal why the body finds it hard to use carbohydrate fed during exercise for energy and how this is affected by heat acclimation there could be implications for nutritional guidance for sportspeople and for people in occupations that can require strenuous physical effort in hot conditions (e.g., firefighters, military personnel).REC name
London - Fulham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/PR/1319
Date of REC Opinion
23 Nov 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion