Non-invasive techniques for assessing carbohydrate flux: I. Measurement of depletion by indirect calorimetry.

Glycogen forms the smallest yet most labile energy substrate store. Therefore studying carbohydrate flux may be crucial to understanding the regulation of energy balance. Indirect calorimetry has been used to measure carbohydrate oxidation overnight and during exercise in nine fasted subjects. Overnight carbohydrate oxidation (averaging 2.85 +/- 0.8 g h-1) was assumed to be derived primarily from hepatic glycogen since subjects were inactive or asleep, and since glucose oxidized after gluconeogenesis from protein is measured as protein oxidation. Lower-limb muscle glycogen stores were depleted by repeated 30-min periods of cycle ergometry at 45% VO2max until exhaustion (8 +/- 1 periods). The carbohydrate oxidation rate decreased as exercise progressed. Quadratic curves yielded a close fit to each individual's exercise carbohydrate depletion data (mean multiple correlation r = 0.9996) and provided excellent inter-subject discrimination. Total (muscle plus liver) glycogen stores prior to exercise were estimated by extrapolation of the depletion curves to zero oxidation rate. This produced an extrapolation of the depletion curves to zero oxidation rate. This produced an estimate (174 +/- 61 g) which compared well with predictions (208 +/- 43 g) based on reference values for muscle mass and initial glycogen content. The results demonstrate that non-invasive estimates of glycogen status can be obtained from accurate respiratory exchange data.