{"id":198413,"date":"2025-04-18T17:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T17:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=198413"},"modified":"2025-04-18T17:14:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T17:14:30","slug":"carb-intake-should-you-consider-your-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/04\/18\/carb-intake-should-you-consider-your-weight\/","title":{"rendered":"Carb Intake \u2013 Should You Consider Your Weight?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most cyclists know carbohydrates are essential fuel. Typically, daily carbohydrate recommendations are based on body weight. Starting at around 5 g of carbs per kilogram for moderate training days all the way up to 12 g per kg on race days. The thing is, recommendations for consumption on the bike are usually expressed in grams per hour, regardless of body weight. Should we rethink this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Carbs on the bike<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Carbohydrate recommendations for consumption on the bike are typically up to 60 g per hour if consuming glucose alone, or up to 90 g when using combinations of carbs like glucose and fructose. This is because studies found most athletes, regardless of size, generally oxidized around the same maximum amount of glucose per hour, roughly 60 grams. Size differences appeared minimal or irrelevant.<\/p>\n

New study brings weight into the equation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Recently, researchers<\/a> revisited the issue, proposing that recommendations should consider body weight. Their reasoning seems intuitive. They say that a heavier athlete would use more energy, potentially oxidizing more ingested carbohydrates. In their study, cyclists of varying sizes consumed 90 grams of glucose per hour. And the researchers did find a correlation suggesting heavier cyclists might oxidize more carbohydrates than lighter ones, implying weight-based recommendations might be justified.<\/p>\n

\"Pasta<\/a>
Most cyclists know carbohydrates are essential fuel. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Does the data support that?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

However, this new study<\/a> is not that straightforward. Asker Jeukendrup, a renowned sports nutrition scientist, pointed out a few issues when reviewing the data on his blog. These are three of his key observations about the study.<\/p>\n