Carbohydrate supplementation and the influence of breakfast on fuel use in hypoxia

Purpose: This study investigated the effect of carbohydrate supplementation on substrate oxidation during exercise in hypoxia after pre-exercise breakfast consumption and omission. Methods: Eleven men walked in normobaric hypoxia (FiO2 ~11.7%) for 90-min at 50% of hypoxic V̇O2max. Participants were supplemented with a carbohydrate beverage (1.2g·min-1 glucose) and a placebo beverage (both enriched with U-13C6 D-glucose) after breakfast consumption and after omission. Indirect calorimetry and isotope ratio mass spectrometry were used to calculate carbohydrate (exogenous and endogenous (muscle and liver)) and fat oxidation. Results: In the first 60-min of exercise, there was no significant change in relative substrate oxidation in the carbohydrate compared with placebo trial after breakfast consumption or omission (both p = 0.99). In the last 30-min of exercise, increased relative carbohydrate oxidation occurred in the carbohydrate compared with placebo trial after breakfast omission (44.0 ± 8.8 vs. 28.0 ± 12.3, p < 0.01) but not consumption (51.7 ± 12.3 vs. 44.2 ± 10.4, p = 0.38). In the same period, a reduction in relative liver (but not muscle) glucose oxidation was observed in the carbohydrate compared with placebo trials after breakfast consumption (liver: 7.7 ± 1.6% vs. 14.8 ± 2.3%, p < 0.01; muscle: 25.4 ± 9.4% vs. 29.4 ± 11.1%, p = 0.99) and omission (liver: 3.8 ± 0.8% vs. 8.7 ± 2.8%, p < 0.01; muscle: 19.4 ± 7.5% vs. 19.2 ± 12.2%, p = 0.99). No significant difference in relative exogenous carbohydrate oxidation was observed between breakfast consumption and omission trials (p = 0.14). Conclusion: In acute normobaric hypoxia, carbohydrate supplementation increased relative carbohydrate oxidation during exercise (> 60 min) after breakfast omission, but not consumption.