Healthy 'fuel' for the body

摘要

The low-glycaemic carbohydrate Palatinose not only promotes fat burning but alsojppens up market opportunities for manufacturers of functional products. THE two principal storage depots involved in the generation of usable energy are: carbohydrates inthe form of glycogen and lipids. By far the body's largest energy source, the lipid reserves appear practically inexhaustible. In a man of normal weight they can store about 100 000 kilocalories - enough to run over 30 marathons. Carbohydrate storage, on the other hand, is very limited. A healthy man can store about 350-400g of glycogen, or just enough for one to two hours' exercise of moderate intensity. These two energy sources differ fundamentally in the way in which they deliver their energy. Carbohydrates are immediately available and are transformed very rapidly into work. In contrast, lipid metabolism proceeds much slower because it is much more complex. That is why the body first takes recourse primarily to its glycogen reserves when it performs a strenuous activity - when these reserves are widely exhausted and the body has to increase the proportion of fat used as energy, a drop in performance ensues. The challenge at hand is therefore that of raising the body's lipid metabolism capacity. 'It is being increasingly recognised that the ability to effectively burn fat is of value both for endurance and for health,' according to Professor Asker E. Jeukendrup, of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Birmingham. It is their pronounced fat oxidation capacity that enables athletes to use fat as substrate when their glycogen stores are depleted.