Vivien Cheng

Low carb diet in competitive sports Vivien Cheng

The low carb diet is increasingly practiced in competitive sports, as it is believed to improve fat metabolism. Many sports and nutrition scientists criticize that competitive athletes depend too much on carbohydrate metabolism as the main source of energy and that fat metabolism as the main source of energy would enhance athletic performance. The aim of this technical paper is to find out to what extent and in which sport the low carb diet can be usefully used. Meanwhile, I want to check whether fat metabolism can actually be improved by the low carb diet and whether this has a positive effect on athletic performance. To check this, the understanding of the energy supply in the body (stress metabolism) is necessary. At the end of the factual analysis, the advantages of carbohydrate metabolism over fat metabolism are explained. Finally, the result of the work is summarized.