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Digestive disorders during exercise

Digestive disorders in endurance athletes are common, with an estimated 30 to 50% of athletes affected. Runners and triathletes are the most affected.
What are the symptoms? What are the causes? And how can they be prevented?
Answers in this article!

Digestive disorders: causes and symptoms

Its digestive problems manifest themselves in many ways:
- abdominal pain,
- diarrhea,
- vomiting, gastroesophageal reflux with “heartburn”.

Several phenomena, often interlinked, can explain the high frequency of these disorders which can become disabling to the point of forcing certain athletes to slow down considerably or even force them to give up!

Among the main phenomena we find:

  • Digestive ischemia i.e. the lack of oxygen available to the digestive system due to a redistribution of blood volume in favor of the muscles which have greatly increased needs.

  • Dehydration.

  • The ingestion of unsuitable foods during exercise: either drinks that are too concentrated (hypertonic), or foods that are too cold, or drinks that are too abundant.

  • An unbalanced diet before exercise: a diet too rich in carbohydrates leading to intestinal fermentation of glucose or a last meal too fatty or too rich in protein making digestion more difficult.

  • Organizational errors: a last meal eaten too late.

  • A diet too rich in fiber especially in association with the stress of competition which can in itself accelerate transit.

Digestive disorders: prevention and treatment

These digestive problems are most common during competitions, given the intensity of the effort and therefore cannot be easily resolved during the activity.

The strategy for limiting digestive problems during exercise is implemented in several stages:

- As the event approaches, it is important to be well organized. This involves carbohydrate loading started early enough. A balanced final day that is not too rich in carbohydrates or residues, and finally a tested and approved final meal.

- At the start of the event: avoid starting too quickly if the event is long in order to prevent early digestive ischemia.

- During the effort: it is important to optimally build a nutritional program. This requires sufficient hydration and carbohydrates taken regularly during exercise through the ingestion of an isotonic drink (example Booster +) in the right doses (temperature between 10 and 15 degrees) and the ingestion of water with hypertonic foods (example Energy Gel Fluide).

During
Energy drink - Booster +

Energy drink - Booster +

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Source: our dietician-nutritionist and "Endurance Nutrition: The Secrets to Boosting Your Performance" by Dr. Huges DANIEL, Dr. Fabrice KUHN

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