Flockhart Mikael, Larsen Filip J
The Department of Physiology, Nutrition and Biomechanics, The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, GIH, 114 33, Stockholm, Sweden.
Sports Med. 2024 Feb;54(2):247-255. doi: 10.1007/s40279-023-01910-4. Epub 2023 Sep 2.
Blood glucose regulation has been studied for well over a century as it is intimately related to metabolic health. Research in glucose transport and uptake has also been substantial within the field of exercise physiology as glucose delivery to the working muscles affects exercise capacity and athletic achievements. However, although exceptions exist, less focus has been on blood glucose as a parameter to optimize training and competition outcomes in athletes with normal glucose control. During the last years, measuring glucose has gained popularity within the sports community and successful endurance athletes have been seen with skin-mounted sensors for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The technique offers real-time recording of glucose concentrations in the interstitium, which is assumed to be equivalent to concentrations in the blood. Although continuous measurements of a parameter that is intimately connected to metabolism and health can seem appealing, there is no current consensus on how to interpret measurements within this context. Well-defined approaches to use glucose monitoring to improve endurance athletes' performance and health are lacking. In several studies, blood glucose regulation in endurance athletes has been shown to differ from that in healthy controls. Furthermore, endurance athletes regularly perform demanding training sessions and can be exposed to high or low energy and/or carbohydrate availability, which can affect blood glucose levels and regulation. In this current opinion, we aim to discuss blood glucose regulation in endurance athletes and highlight the existing research on glucose monitoring for performance and health in this population.
血糖调节已经被研究了一个多世纪，因为它与代谢健康密切相关。在运动生理学领域，关于葡萄糖转运和摄取的研究也相当丰富，因为葡萄糖向工作肌肉的输送会影响运动能力和运动成绩。然而，尽管存在例外情况，但对于血糖作为优化血糖控制正常的运动员训练和比赛结果的一个参数，关注较少。在过去几年里，测量血糖在体育界越来越流行，人们看到一些成功的耐力运动员使用贴在皮肤上的传感器进行连续血糖监测（CGM）。这项技术可以实时记录间质中的葡萄糖浓度，据推测这与血液中的浓度相当。尽管对一个与代谢和健康密切相关的参数进行连续测量似乎很有吸引力，但目前对于如何在这种情况下解释测量结果尚无共识。缺乏明确的利用血糖监测来提高耐力运动员成绩和健康的方法。在几项研究中，耐力运动员的血糖调节已被证明与健康对照组不同。此外，耐力运动员经常进行高强度训练，可能会面临高或低能量和/或碳水化合物供应情况，这会影响血糖水平和调节。在本观点文章中，我们旨在讨论耐力运动员的血糖调节，并强调关于该人群血糖监测对其成绩和健康影响的现有研究。
