Effects of Ketogenic Diet on Triathlon's Performance

September 29, 2018 updated by: Antonio Paoli, University of Padova

Effects of Five Weeks of Ketogenic Diet on Long Distance Triathletes Performance

The study aimed to verify the effects of 5 weeks of ketogenic diet (KD) on some performance index in long distance triathletes

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

16 well trained male long distance Triathletes participates in the study (30.65 ± 10.77 years of age), with minimum one year of triathlon competition experience and 8-10 hours of training per week. All subjects had a personal interview made by a registered Medical Doctor about the diet intervention prior to the beginning of the study. Moreover participants were educated about the benefits and limitations of the two different dietary treatments and asked to nominate their preference for, or non-acceptance of, each of these interventions. Thus participants also decided liberally if participate for the diet intervention or not. This choice was decided to prevent any type of dropout in the KD group, considering that a free and conscious choices is better for the adherence on a strict diet like ketogenic diet . Investigators were thus able to allocate the athletes to their preferred treatment, while achieving suitable matching of groups based on age, body mass and aerobic power. All the participants were healthy and injured free, and not consuming a low carbs diet prior to the study. The diet macronutrient percentage distribution was the following: for ND the percentages were 25% of TDC (total daily calories), fat were 20% of TDC and carbohydrates represented the 55% of TDC; for KD the percentages were 68% fat, 26% protein and 6% carbohydrate. In the KD very low carbohydrate foods that simulate carbohydrates taste food like croissants, bread and cracked slices made by Le Gamberi Foods (Forlì, Italy), were used for a better compliance to the dietary intervention. Subjects undertaken an anthropometric test and two different cardiopulmonary tests with a professional cycloergometer (MARCA). The anthropometric measures were taken to evaluated body weight. height and body composition . After the body composition analysis subjects underwent to a maximal cardiopulmonary test (GXT) to evaluate the maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max). The following day subjects performed 60 minutes at 45% of PPO to assess endurance performance at ironman biking race-pace. The day after test session KD group started the KD 5 weeks. The Control Group (S) followed his habitual normo-caloric, balanced diet. The same order and procedures were conducted for testing the subjects post diet intervention. Anthropometric and performance test was conducted in the same order for each subjects and at the same time of the day. Blood ketones were measured each other day to ensure the compliance to KD

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

16

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Italy
      • Padova, Italy, 35131
        • Nutrition and Exercise Lab, DSB, University of Padova

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

20 years to 40 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • long distance Triathletes (8-10 hours of training per week), competing in half Ironman or Ironman
  • no previous experience of low carbohydrate diet
  • more than 3 years of training

Exclusion Criteria:

  • recent (less than 6 months) musculoskeletal injuries
  • more than 2 months without training in the last 2 years

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Ketogenic diet
Subjects followed 5 weeks of ketogenic diet
Other: Ketogenic diet
total daily caloric intake was divided into 5 meals. Individual daily caloric need is calculated referring to body composition and adjusted for daily activity (Frankenfield, Roth-Yousey, & Compher, 2005; Wang et al., 2000). Macronutrients percentage is 68% fat, 26% protein and 6% carbohydrate Paoli et al. 2013). Very low carbohydrate foods that simulate carbohydrates taste food like croissants, bread and cracked slices made by Le Gamberi Foods (Forlì, Italy), are used for a better compliance to the dietary intervention
Active Comparator: Western Diet
Subjects followed 5 weeks of a western diet
Other: Western Diet
total daily caloric intake was divided into 5 meals. Individual daily caloric need is calculated referring to body composition and adjusted for daily activity (Frankenfield, Roth-Yousey, & Compher, 2005; Wang et al., 2000). The diet macronutrient percentage distribution is the following: protein is 25% of TDC (total daily calories), fat is 20% of TDC and carbohydrates represented the 55% of TDC

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
VO2 at 45% of peak power output
Time Frame: after 5 weeks
We measured the mean VO2 during one hour at the 45% of peak power output (PPO) measured during the first test
after 5 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
VO2 per Kg/bw
Time Frame: after 5 weeks
VO2 measured as ml O2 per kilograms of body weight
after 5 weeks
VO2max
Time Frame: after 5 weeks
Maximal oxygen consumption measured through a incremental bike test
after 5 weeks
Body composition LBM
Time Frame: after 5 weeks
Lean body mass (Kg) measured by Body Impedence Analysis
after 5 weeks
Body composition FM
Time Frame: after 5 weeks
Fat mass (Kg) measured by Body Impedence Analysis
after 5 weeks
Body Weight
Time Frame: after 5 weeks
in Kg
after 5 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Padova

Collaborators

University of Palermo
Universidade Federal de Goias

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Antonio Paoli, MD, DSB University of Padova

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 1, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 25, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

July 12, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 15, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 28, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

October 1, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

October 2, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 29, 2018

Last Verified

September 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • KDTRI17

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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