Glycemic Index of lentil- and cherry-based sport nutrition products for endurance athletes

Abstract

Summary Objective Endurance athletes may benefit from consuming foods low in glycemic index (GI) before sport performance. Foods such as lentils and tart cherries have a very low GI, but processing these ingredients into products that can easily be consumed before performance may affect their GI. The study determined whether processing lentils into a sports nutrition bar and tart cherries into a drink affected the glycemic index. Methods Using a randomized counterbalanced design, we compared the GI of a lentil-based sports nutrition bar (n = 10) to two versions of a popular sports nutrition bar (i.e. Power Bar Harvest and Power Bar Recovery, n = 9) in young, healthy individuals. We then evaluated the GI of raw tart cherries and juice from tart cherries in another group of young healthy individuals (n = 7). Results The lentil-based sports nutrition bar had a lower GI than the other bars (i.e. 45 ± 17 versus 55 ± 13 and 55 ± 14 for the lentil bar, Power Bar Harvest and Power Bar Recovery, respectively; p 0.05). Conclusions A sports nutrition bar with lentils as a main ingredient or cherry juice offer low GI carbohydrate options for endurance athletes.