(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Energy drinks can give you an extra boost – but how?
New research shows the mechanism may lie in your mouth!
Whether it’s real sugar or a tasteless carbohydrate, carb-filled energy drinks
can significantly boost performance in an endurance event, even if the drink
isn’t ingested. To better understand why, researchers mixed three different
drinks for study participants: one with glucose (a sugar), one with maltodextrin
(a tasteless carbohydrate) and one that was carb-free, then mixed all three with
artificial sweeteners to so they tasted identical. Endurance-trained athletes
then rinsed their mouths with one of the three drinks during a challenging
time-trial event.
Researchers found athletes given the glucose or maltodextrin drinks outperformed
those given the artificially sweetened beverage by 2 to 3 percent. They were
also able to sustain higher average power output and pulse rate, but did not
feel they were working any harder. Brain scans taken shortly after athletes were
given the three compounds showed areas of the brain associated with pleasure and
reward were activated by glucose and maltodextrin, but not with the artificial
sweetener. They concluded as-yet unidentified receptors in the mouth –
independent from the ‘sweet’ tastebuds – are responsible.
"Much of the benefit from carbohydrate in sports drinks is provided by signaling
directly from mouth to brain rather than providing energy for the working
muscles," Ed Chambers, Ph.D., was quoted as saying.
SOURCE: The Journal of Physiology, 2009
