Nutritional aspects of health and performance at lowland and altitude.

One of the most important nutritional goals amongst athletes is to maintain adequate energy and fluid balance, since these are subject to relatively rapid changes and are directly related to performance and health. This may especially be the case when exercise intensity is high. Furthermore, when due to exercise and environmental stress food and fluid intake become depressed. In such conditions there may be a dramatic increase in the utilization of carbohydrate (CHO), fluid, and in some instances protein. These increased requirements may then not be covered. Insufficient replacement of CHO may lead to hypoglycemia, altered protein metabolism, central fatigue and exhaustion. Large sweat losses may pose a risk to health by inducing severe dehydration, impaired blood circulation and heat transfer, leading to heat exhaustion and collapse. Inadequate CHO and protein intake leads to a negative nitrogen balance, which over the long term will lead to a loss of muscle mass. In the scope of this presentation we will refer to the most important nutritional factors which are known to affect performance over a short term, at sea level and altitude.