Endurance Performance On Low-Carb Diet

Low-carbohydrate dieting has been shown to help promote body composition changes. But how would this diet strategy work for endurance athletes who rely on carbohydrate energy? A study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition put ketogenic dieting to the test on 5 endurance athletes from New Zealand.
 
For 10 weeks, 1 male and 4 female subjects consumed a low-carb, high-fat diet. In addition to showing an increased ability to use fat as a fuel source, average body weight was reduced by 8.8 pounds and time to exhaustion decreased by around 2 minutes. Energy levels initially dropped off, but returned over time, although it was difficult for subjects to perform at high levels of intensity.