Observations placeholder
Chia seeds and athletes
Identifier
006751
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Healing because it means you don't need all that sugar and the ALA will heal the cells
A description of the experience
J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Jan;25(1):61-5. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181fef85c. Omega 3 Chia seed loading as a means of carbohydrate loading. Illian TG, Casey JC, Bishop PA. Human Performance Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology, The University of Alabama, Auburn, Alabama, USA. tillian@ia.ua.edu
The purpose of this study was to determine if Omega 3 Chia seed loading is a viable option for enhancing sports performance in events lasting >90 minutes and allow athletes to decrease their dietary intake of sugar while increasing their intake of Omega 3 fatty acids.
It has been well documented that a high dietary carbohydrate (CHO) intake for several days before competition is known to increase muscle glycogen stores resulting in performance improvements in events lasting >90 minutes.
This study compared performance testing results between 2 different CHO-loading treatments.
The traditional CHO-loading treatment served as the control (100% cals from Gatorade). The Omega 3 Chia drink (50% of calories from Greens Plus Omega 3 Chia seeds, 50% Gatorade) served as the Omega 3 Chia loading drink. Both CHO-loading treatments were based on the subject's body weight and were thus isocaloric.
Six highly trained male subjects V(O2)max 47.8-84.2 ml · kg(-1); mean (SD) of V(O2)max 70.3 ml · kg(-1) (13.3) performed a 1-hour run at ∼65% of their V(O2)max on a treadmill, followed by a 10k time trial on a track. There were 2 trials in a crossover counterbalanced repeated-measures design with a 2-week washout between testing sessions to allow the participants to recover from the intense exercise and any effects of the treatment.
There was no statistical difference (p = 0.83) between Omega 3 Chia loading (mean 10k time = 37 minutes 49 seconds) and CHO loading (mean = 37 minutes 43 seconds).
Under our conditions, Omega 3 Chia loading appears a viable option for enhancing performance for endurance events lasting >90 minutes and allows athletes to decrease their dietary intake of sugar while increasing their intake of Omega 3 fatty acids but offered no performance advantages.
PMID: 21183832