Introduction
Conflicting reports have been reported regarding the metabolic effects of carbohydrate feeding prior to exercise. Although ingestion of a carbohydrate-rich meal 3-4 h before exercise has been shown to increase muscle glycogen (Coyle et al., 1985) and enhance exercise performance (Sherman et al., 1989: Wright et al., 1991: Schabort et al., 1999), there is a widely held view that consuming any carbohydrates within the hour before exercise decreases exercise capacity. The metabolic alterations associated with ingestion of carbohydrate in the 30-60 min before exercise has the potential to influence exercise performance. It has been postulated that the increase in muscle glycogenolysis observed previously (Costill et al., 1977) would result in an earlier onset of fatigue during exercise, as was suggested in a subsequent study (Foster et al., 1979). In contrast, every study since has shown either unchanged (Hargreaves et al.,1987; Jentjens et al., 2003; Febbario et al., 2000; Moseley et al., 2003) or enhanced (Gleeson et al., 1986; Sherman et al., 1991; Thomas et al., 1991) and more recently (Kirwan et al., 1998) endurance performance after the ingestion of carbohydrate in the hour before exercise...