Potato-based whole-foods versus designer sports nutrition; how potatoes and potato-based products can accelerate recovery following exercise

Muscle and liver glycogen stores are the most important fuel sources during
exhaustive exercise. The repletion of these glycogen stores is essential for
recovery after exercise, thereby allowing performance capacity to be restored.
Carbohydrate ingestion is required for muscle and liver glycogen repletion in
the hours following exercise and it has been suggested that liver and muscle
glycogen stores can be replenished within 24 hours when adequate amounts of
carbohydrate are ingested. Designer sports recovery drinks and sports
supplements are often recommended and marketed to augment carbohydrate
ingestion and, as such, to support recovery in both professional and
recreational athletes. However, carbohydrate intake can also be increased by
ingesting more high-quality, carbohydrate-rich whole-foods. Potatoes and
potato-based products may serve as an alternative to help athletes refill their
glycogen stores. Therefore, we propose to investigate the capacity of consuming
potatoes and potato-based foods as a dietary strategy to accelerate muscle and
liver glycogen stores during recovery from exercise.

In this research study we want to assess whether eating potato-rich food
products are a good dietary strategy to recovery both liver and muscle glycogen
stores following exhaustive exercise in healthy young endurance trained males
over 24 hours.

Randomized cross-over design

For this research we assess 3 different diets:
• Diet 1: Standard diet: participants will eat normal standard food products.
• Diet 2: Standard diet will be supplemented with sports supplements:
participants will eat/drink additional sports supplements (e.g., sports drinks,
gels, bars).
• Diet 3: Standard diet will be supplemented with potato-based products:
participants will eat additional potato-based products (e.g., potatoes, mashed
potatoes).

The burden and risks associated with participation are low. Participants will
come to the university four times: 1 screening (2 hours) and 3 experimental
trials (each 15 hours). During the screening visit, we will perform a DEXA, a
rest metabolism assessment, and determine their VO2max with a cycling test. For
2 days prior to the experimental trials, participants will be asked to keep
their diets as consistent as possible and to refrain from consuming alcohol or
performing any type of intense physical exercise. We will ask the participants
to fill out a medical questionnaire and record their food intake and physical
activity for the last 2 days prior to the experimental trials. For the
experimental trial, participants will be fasted and will need to refrain from
eating or drinking (except for water) from 22h00 the evening before. During the
experimental trials, participants will complete an exercise session,
additionally they will receive all nutrition and drinks from the researchers
(outside of what we will provide, they are only allowed to drink water). The
researchers involved will collect blood samples en perform MRI procedures. For
blood collection, insertion of the catheters is comparable to a blood draw and
could result in a small hematoma. We will take 51 blood samples (8 mL) during
the experimental trial. The total amount of blood drawn (408 mL) is less than
the amount of a blood donation (500 mL) and will be completely restored in
approximately 1 month. There is no direct benefit for the participants except
for their contribution to the scientific knowledge and this will provide the
basis for novel nutritional interventions to accelerate post-exercise recovery
for elite and recreational athletes, which will be obtained from this study and
used in the future.