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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2019 Aug 28;11(9):2019.
doi: 10.3390/nu11092019.

Impact of Carbohydrate Ingestion on Cognitive Flexibility and Cerebral Oxygenation during High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise: A Comparison between Maple Products and Usual Carbohydrate Solutions

Olivier Dupuy  1 , Jonathan Tremblay  2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Impact of Carbohydrate Ingestion on Cognitive Flexibility and Cerebral Oxygenation during High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise: A Comparison between Maple Products and Usual Carbohydrate Solutions

Olivier Dupuy et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of carbohydrate (CHO) drinks (6% per volume) sweetened with maple (syrup or sap) to a commercial sports drink, glucose, and a control solution (water) on cognitive flexibility during high-intensity intermittent exercise.

Methods: Eighty-five active men completed six 3-min bouts at 95% of their maximal aerobic power on a stationary bike, with 3 min of passive rest between efforts. Subjects were randomly allocated to an ingestion condition. Following each exercise bout, subjects ingested 166 mL of the experimental solution, drinking a total of 1 L of the same solution throughout the experimentation. Cognitive flexibility was measured using reaction time and accuracy on the Stroop task. The cognitive task was performed a total of 10 times, including 15 and 30 min post-exercise. Glycemia and cerebral oxygenation were also measured at each time point. Statistical analyses were performed using a two-way ANOVA (Condition × Time) with repeated measures.

Results: The ingestion of maple products and the commercial sports drink led to a lesser increase in glycemia than glucose ingestion. CHO ingestion, when compared to water, induced a slight reduction in reaction times on the cognitive task, especially in the switching trials. CHO ingestion had no impact on cerebral oxygenation.

Conclusions: This study shows that CHO ingestion, regardless of its type, tends to improve cognitive performance throughout exercise, especially during difficult cognitive tasks.

Keywords: cerebral oxygenation; cognitive performance; maple products; switching task.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Experimental protocol.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Plasma glucose concentration (A) and percentage of change (B), at baseline, over the high-intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) protocol and during recovery (mean ± SD).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Evolution of ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) (A) and percentage of change (B) over the high-intensity intermittent exercise protocol (mean ± SD).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Perceived task difficulty (DP-15) (A) and percentage of change (B), at the baseline, over the high-intensity intermittent exercise protocol and during recovery (mean ± SD).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Magnitude of differences (Hedge’s g effect size (ES), with 95% confidence intervals) in reaction times for all trials, for congruent, incongruent and switching trials and for each block compared to baseline. A decrease in ES represents a faster reaction time compared to baseline cognitive performance. Horizontal dashed lines correspond to very small (<0.2), small (0.2 < ES < 0.5), moderate (0.5 < ES < 0.8), large (0.8 < ES < 1.2), and very large (ES > 1.2) effects [41].
Figure 6
Figure 6
Cerebral oxygenation changes for ThB (A), HbO2 (B) and HHb (C), at the baseline, over the high-intensity intermittent exercise protocol and during recovery (means of eight channel ± SD).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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