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Effect of acute exercise on glucose tolerance following post-exercise feeding

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Abstract

It is well documented that a single bout of endurance exercise (EE) can improve insulin sensitivity, whereas relatively little is known about the acute effects of resistance exercise (RE) in humans. The objective of this study is to investigate the insulin and glucose responses to an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) following a high intensity bout of either EE or RE followed by post-exercise carbohydrate–protein hydrolysate ingestion. Eighteen participants were divided into two groups: a group in which nine participants completed 1 h of EE (cycle ergometry at 75% W max) and a RE group in which nine participants completed a RE circuit (3 sets of 10 repetitions). Participants ingested 1.5 l of a carbohydrate (200 g)–protein hydrolysate (50 g) beverage within 1 h of exercise completion. An OGTT was performed 6 h post-exercise. On the control day the endurance and resistance groups performed the above protocol without the prior exercise (CEE or CRE). The control and exercise days were counterbalanced. RE reduced plasma glucose AUC (822 ± 68 vs. 694 ± 23 mmol l−1·120 min; CRE vs. RE, respectively; P < 0.05) but EE did not lead to a change (784 ± 40 vs. 835 ± 59 mmol l−1·120 min; CEE vs. EE, respectively). Plasma insulin AUC remained unchanged compared to the control in both the RE and EE groups. The results suggest that the benefit of RE on glucose tolerance following CHO intake remains for 6 h even when a carbohydrate–protein hydrolysate beverage was ingested within 1 h after exercise, while the well documented benefit of EE was not observed.

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Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank Paula Hendricks, Zoe Jessop, Laura Wright and Oliver Morley for their assistance in this study.

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Correspondence to Anton J. M. Wagenmakers.

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Michelle C. Venables and Christopher S. Shaw made equal contributions to the studies and the writing of the manuscript and should be regarded as joint first author.

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Venables, M.C., Shaw, C.S., Jeukendrup, A.E. et al. Effect of acute exercise on glucose tolerance following post-exercise feeding. Eur J Appl Physiol 100, 711–717 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-007-0464-1

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