Exercising with low muscle glycogen content increases fat oxidation and decreases endogenous, but not exogenous carbohydrate oxidation

Background Initiating aerobic exercise with low muscle glycogen content promotes greater fat and less endogenous carbohydrate oxidation during exercise. However, the extent exogenous carbohydrate oxidation increases when exercise is initiated with low muscle glycogen is unclear. Purpose Determine the effects of muscle glycogen content at the onset of exercise on whole-body and muscle substrate metabolism. Methods Using a randomized, crossover design, 12 men (mean ± SD, age: 21 ± 4 y; body mass: 83 ± 11 kg; VO2peak: 44 ± 3 mL/kg/min) completed 2 cycle ergometry glycogen depletion trials separated by 7-d, followed by a 24-h refeeding to elicit low (LOW; 1.5 g/kg carbohydrate, 3.0 g/kg fat) or adequate (AD; 6.0 g/kg carbohydrate, 1.0 g/kg fat) glycogen stores. Participants then performed 80 min of steady-state cycle ergometry (64 ± 3% VO2peak) while consuming a carbohydrate drink (95 g glucose +51 g fructose; 1.8 g/min). Substrate oxidation (g/min) was determined by indirect calorimetry and 13C. Muscle glycogen (mmol/kg dry weight), pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) activity, and gene expression were assessed in muscle. Results Initiating steady-state exercise with LOW (217 ± 103) or AD (396 ± 70; P 0.05) during exercise. Endogenous carbohydrate oxidation was lower and fat oxidation was higher in LOW (0.75 ± 0.29 and 0.55 ± 0.10) than AD (1.17 ± 0.29 and 0.38 ± 0.13; all P Conclusion Initiating exercise with low muscle glycogen does not impair exogenous carbohydrate oxidative capacity, rather, to compensate for lower endogenous carbohydrate oxidation acute adaptations lead to increased whole-body and skeletal muscle fat oxidation.