Why do sportsmen and women eat pasta?

[20 April 2010 - 14h13]

Before a football or basketball match, a running or cycling race or before going on a long hike … check what you eat. Pasta is fine … but not just pasta. Rice, potatoes, semolina … all these forms of starch provide our muscles with energy. There are the fuel our body needs!

Starches are in fact what are known as complex or slow-release carbohydrates because of the way the body assimilates them: ie slowly and gradually. Unlike fast-release carbohydrates, they are digested and pass into the blood (and therefore are assimilated by the muscles) in a far more gradual way.

So, before engaging in moderate to sustained levels of exercise, it is a very good idea for sportsmen and women to build up their stock of glycogen, which is what carbohydrates are transformed into. Which is why, two to three days before a competition, sportsmen and women often have a “pasta party”. And the more energy a sportsman expends, the more he must increase his intake of complex sugars, adds Dr Stéphane Cascua (a sports doctor in Paris) in a study dedicated to sports nutrition.

But if you’re a pasta lover, be careful about how you cook it. It is best left al dente. If overcooked, spaghetti, tagliatelli and other penne lose their fast-release sugars. They also cease to be beneficial for sportsmen and women. And it’s important not to add a sauce that is too rich in fat. A simple drizzle of olive oil and a few basil leaves are tasty enough on their own.

It is also worth remembering that legumes (such as chickpeas, lentils and white haricot beans) provide good amounts of complex carbohydrate. This is a way of varying what you eat, although they will take longer to digest because they are very high in fibre.

>> Cet article est aussi disponible en français

>> Cet article est aussi disponible en arabe

© 1996-2012 Destination Santé SAS - All Rights Reserved. No information contained on this server can be reproduced or retransmitted without prior written consent of Destination Santé. Offenders will be prosecuted in consideration of articles L 122-4 and L 335-3 of the Code of Intellectual Property, allowing up to two years' imprisonment and a 150,000 euros fine.