Single and Combines Effects of Acute Beetroot Juice and Glucose Supplementation on Cycling Endurance Performance in Hot Conditions

Ooi, Wei Loon (2018) Single and Combines Effects of Acute Beetroot Juice and Glucose Supplementation on Cycling Endurance Performance in Hot Conditions. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Most studies related to nitrate or beetroot supplementation were done on medical prospect and for exercise performance, there were limited studies done with heat stress. Also, there were no studies examined on combination of Nitrate and Glucose supplementation on exercise performance in hot conditions. This research aims to examine the combined effect of nitrate and glucose on endurance cycling performance in the heat. Eight trained-male cyclists (Age: 24.1 ± 7.3 years; Weight: 63.6 ± 6.9kg; Height: 171 ± 3.9cm; VO2max = 61.7 ± 4.9 ml·kg·min-1; Cycling experience: 3.4 ± 1.8 years) were recruited for a placebo-controlled, double blind, randomized cross over experimental trials in hot condition. Beetroot juice (BRJ), glucose (G) or combination of both (MIX) was given 120 min prior to exercise. The experimental trials included of 30 min of submaximal exercise at 60% of VO2max followed immediately with cycling at 80% VO2max until exhaustion. For the time to exhaustion, cycling performance time in BRJ and MIX trials were significantly longer than G trial by 18.37% (p=0.024) and by 21.31% (p=0.015), respectively. HR during BRJ and MIX trials were significantly lower (p<0.05) from G trial from 5th min until 35th min. For core temperature (Tcore), MIX and BRJ trials showed significantly lower T core than G trial at 30th min (p<0.05). At exhaustion point, BRJ showed significantly lower skin temperature (Tskin) than G trial (p=0.048) and (p=0.002), respectively. In conclusion, beetroot juice supplementation with or without mixture of glucose was able to improve heat dissipation during prolonged exercise performance in hot conditions.