1. The Validity of Ultrasound Technology in Providing an Indirect Estimate of Muscle Glycogen Concentrations Is Equivocal
- Author
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Alannah K A McKay, Julia L. Bone, Megan L. Ross, Louise M. Burke, Kristyen Tomcik, and Nikki A. Jeacocke
- Subjects
Sports Nutritional Sciences ,Physiology ,Organism Hydration Status ,030209 endocrinology & metabolism ,Review ,Sports nutrition ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0302 clinical medicine ,carbohydrate loading ,Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ,vastus lateralis ,Humans ,Medicine ,Carbohydrate loading ,TX341-641 ,Muscle, Skeletal ,Ultrasound image ,Ultrasonography ,glycogen depletion ,Nutrition and Dietetics ,Glycogen ,Nutrition. Foods and food supply ,business.industry ,Ultrasound ,Reproducibility of Results ,Echogenicity ,030229 sport sciences ,Nutrition Assessment ,Glycogen depletion ,chemistry ,creatine loading ,business ,Software ,Food Science - Abstract
Researchers and practitioners in sports nutrition would greatly benefit from a rapid, portable, and non-invasive technique to measure muscle glycogen, both in the laboratory and field. This explains the interest in MuscleSound®, the first commercial system to use high-frequency ultrasound technology and image analysis from patented cloud-based software to estimate muscle glycogen content from the echogenicity of the ultrasound image. This technique is based largely on muscle water content, which is presumed to act as a proxy for glycogen. Despite the promise of early validation studies, newer studies from independent groups reported discrepant results, with MuscleSound® scores failing to correlate with the glycogen content of biopsy-derived mixed muscle samples or to show the expected changes in muscle glycogen associated with various diet and exercise strategies. The explanation of issues related to the site of assessment do not account for these discrepancies, and there are substantial problems with the premise that the ratio of glycogen to water in the muscle is constant. Although further studies investigating this technique are warranted, current evidence that MuscleSound® technology can provide valid and actionable information around muscle glycogen stores is at best equivocal.
- Published
- 2021
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