Carbohydrate Intake in Mexican Soccer Players in Different Training Sessions

Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate if carbohydrate intake in professional soccer players is the same during moderate and high intensity training and whether intake is within the recommended range established by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) (30-60 g/h). METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in professional soccer players (17-37 years old) of four Mexican First Division teams (N=123) in which carbohydrate (CHO) intake in grams per hour was determined by drinking ad libitum a sports beverage with 6% of CHO or water, or any other source of CHO (gels, fruit) preferred by the player during moderate training intensity (CHI n=24, Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) 23 °C, humidity 51%, duration 100 min; RAYm n=25, WBGT 34°C, humidity 42%, duration 80 min) and high intensity (SAN n=22, WBGT 32 °C, humidity 41%, duration 125 min; XOL n= 25, WBGT 25°C, humidity 13 %, duration 90 min; and RAYh n=27, WBGT 17°C, humidity 69%, duration 80 min), determined by their coach. Moderate intensity versus high intensity CHO intake comparisons were analysed by Student’s T test for independent samples. RESULTS: CHO intake of soccer players in moderate intensity training was (mean ± SD) 17 ± 14 g/h and in high intensity was 14 ± 13 g/h. For moderate intensity training sessions, only 14% of the players met the CHO intake recommendations and for high intensity training sessions only 12% of the players met the recommendations When comparing moderate intensity versus high intensity between RAYm versus Rayh there was not significant difference in the ingestion of CHO (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Soccer is a high intensity intermittent sport that requires a large supply of energy from the glycolytic pathway; thus, CHO intake is important to have a constant fuel supply during training sessions with moderate to high intensity beyond 60 minutes and games. We observed that Mexican professional soccer players do not consume the minimum recommended CHO intake for moderate-high intensity training exercise (30-60 g/h) as recommended by ACSM for exercise lasting 1-2 hours. Therefore, it is important to educate soccer players about the importance of consuming the recommended amount of CHO during training sessions and games.