Analysis of food and fluid intake in elite ultra-endurance runners during a 24-h World Championship The right replacement of energy and liquids is a challenge for 24-hour ultramarathon runners, as such unusually high intake can have adverse effects such as gastrointestinal symptoms and hyponatrammie. This study analyzed this recording for twelve elite athletes (6 men and 6 women; ages 46 ± 7 years, size 170 ± 9 cm, weight 61.1 ± 9.6 kg, total route: 193-272 km) at the World Championships Im24-hour run and compared with the latest nutritional recommendations described by the International Society of Sports Nutrition in 2019. We set the hypothesis that these top sports enthusiasts would easily comply with these recommendations without having harmful adverse symptoms. The ad-libitum recording of food and liquids was recorded in real time and the recording of energy, macronutrients, sodium and caffeine was then calculated using a table in which the nutrient composition of each article was previously recorded.There were also gastrointestinal symptoms, dehydration markers (changes in body mass, plasma and urinosmolality and plasma volumes; samples taken from 26 hours before and immediately after the race) and hyponatremia (plasma and urinnodium concentrations). The fluid, energy and carbohydrate absorption of the 11 finishers was 16.4 ± 6.9 l, 35.1 ± 15.7 mJ or 1.49 ± 0.71 kg. Single analyzes showed that all except for one (for fluid intake) or two (for the energy and carbohydrate absorption) more than the minimum recommendations consumed.However, the calculated energy balance remained largely negative (- 29.5 ± 16.1 mJ). Such an unusually high recording did not associate with harmful gastrointestinal symptoms (75%, but only temporary \ [3.0 ± 0.9 H ]) or a hyponatremia (0%) associated with training. The athletes were not dehydrated, which was shown by the absence of a significant loss of body mass (- 0.92 ± 2.13%) and modifications of plasma oil molarness and an increase in plasma volume (+ 19.5 ± 15.8%). The power (traveled distance) correlated positively with the energy consumption and negative with liquid intake.
Overall, almost all of these elite 24-hour ultramarathon runners exceeded the nutritional recommendations without encountering significant or the usual adverse effects. The study can be found under https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc7353765/