NCT05464342

Integral Physiological Adaptations to Carbohydrate Periodization

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 45 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Thessaly · Academic / Other
• Sex: Male
• Age: 18 Years – 50 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of long-term carbohydrate periodization protocols on sleep architecture, sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, physical performance, body composition, gut microbiome, and miRNA in healthy trained individuals.

Detailed description

Athletic populations have been particularly susceptible to sleep inadequacies, experience several sleep issues, and fall below the age-specific sleep recommendations. However, it is well demonstrated that exercise does not impair sleep by itself, and furthermore, acute post-exercise nutrition could elevate the exercise-induced sleep-optimizing effect, with further benefits for the next physical performance. In line with these findings, in a metanalysis of clinical trials, it was shown that pre-bed carbohydrate availability resulted in significant alterations in sleep architecture. It is of utmost importance to highlight that throughout this metanalysis, it was revealed that no long-term nutrition intervention for sleep optimization has been studied yet. These data raise the question of whether a long-term carbohydrate periodization protocol could optimize sleep and alter gut function in a way that athletic performance will be also enhanced. This would allow elucidating further potential interrelations and biological pathways underlying these adaptations.

Conditions

• Sleepiness
• Fatigue
• Feeding Patterns
• Daytime Sleepiness, Excessive

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Evening LGI Carbohydrate Consumption Group	Participants will receive in the evening food with low glycemic index
BEHAVIORAL	Evening HGI Carbohydrate Consumption	Participants will receive in the evening food with high glycemic index
BEHAVIORAL	Evening NO-CHO Carbohydrate Consumption	Participants will receive in the evening a meal with no carbohydrates at all.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-07-05
• Primary completion: 2023-04-01
• Completion: 2023-05-31
• First posted: 2022-07-19
• Last updated: 2023-06-05

Locations

2 sites across 2 countries: Cyprus, Greece