Prevalence, Severity and Potential Nutritional Causes of Gastrointestinal Symptoms during a Marathon in Recreational Runners. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence gastrointestinal symptoms (GIS) in recreational runners during a marathon and to investigate potential nutritional factors that can help. Recreational runners of the marathon runs of Liverpool and Dublin were recruited.After the marathon, gastrointestinal symptoms were reported, and gastrointestinal symptoms in the 7 days before the marathon and during the marathon were examined on the basis of the gastrointestinal symptom valuation scale (GSRS). The food intake was recorded on the basis of nutritional tributors for the day before the race, in the morning of the race and during the race.43% of participants reported moderate gastrointestinal symptoms in the 7 days before the marathon and 27% reported over moderate symptoms during the marathon, with the most common symptoms of flatulence (16%) during training and nausea (8%) during the marathon. Correlations between the entire food intake and GIS were not statistically significant.
There were significant correlations between the total GIS score, the upper GIS score and the lower GIS score in training and during the marathon. During a week before a marathon and during the marathon, there seems to be a low prevalence of GIS in recreational athletes, although no connection with food intake before or during the race. The study can be found under https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29937533/