Co‐ingesting whey protein with dual‐source carbohydrate enhances amino acid availability without compromising post‐exercise liver glycogen resynthesis

Hannon, SC ORCID: 0000-0001-5835-0271, McStravick, J ORCID: 0000-0001-6067-9893, Henthorn, L, Bawden, SJ ORCID: 0000-0002-5157-3269, Tang, JCY ORCID: 0000-0001-6305-6333, Dunn, R, Makino, R ORCID: 0000-0001-7549-2159, Smith, K ORCID: 0000-0001-8971-6635, Gonzalez, JT, Hodson, N, Morton, JP ORCID: 0000-0003-2776-2542, Kennerley, AJ ORCID: 0000-0002-7599-7461 and Hearris, MA ORCID: 0000-0003-4909-6755 (2025) Co‐ingesting whey protein with dual‐source carbohydrate enhances amino acid availability without compromising post‐exercise liver glycogen resynthesis. The Journal of Physiology. ISSN 0022-3751

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Abstract

We examined the effects of ingesting maltodextrin and/or fructose with protein co-ingestion on post-exercise liver and muscle glycogen resynthesis. Following glycogen-depleting exercise, 10 well-trained male cyclists ingested 60 g h−1 carbohydrate from either maltodextrin (MAL), fructose (FRU), 1:1 ratio of maltodextrin + fructose (MF) or 1:1 ratio of maltodextrin + fructose plus 30 g whey protein at 0 and 180 min (PRO) during a 5 h recovery period. 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging were performed at 0, 120 and 300 min following exercise to determine liver and muscle glycogen concentrations and liver volume. Protein co-ingestion resulted in elevated serum insulin and plasma glucagon compared with FRU and MF (P < 0.001 for all). Similarly, serum insulin and plasma glucagon concentrations were markedly higher with MAL when compared with both FRU and MF (P < 0.05 for all), although plasma glucagon was also higher when compared with PRO (P < 0.001). Liver glycogen concentrations were significantly higher with FRU (275 ± 49 mmol L−1), MF (255 ± 50 mmol L−1) and PRO (283 ± 50 mmol L−1) compared with MAL (204 ± 51 mmol L−1) (P < 0.05 for all) following 5 h of recovery. However, muscle glycogen concentrations (mmol L−1: MAL, 168 ± 33; FRU, 145 ± 32; MF, 151 ± 33; PRO 153 ± 33) were not different between trials (P > 0.05). We conclude that, despite enhancing glucagonaemia, co-ingestion of whey protein (to a 1:1 combination of maltodextrin and fructose) does not compromise post-exercise liver glycogen resynthesis, allowing for increased aminoacidaemia alongside rapid glycogen resynthesis.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	06 Biological Sciences; 11 Medical and Health Sciences; Physiology; 31 Biological sciences; 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences; 42 Health sciences
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC1200 Sports Medicine
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	Wiley
Date of acceptance:	19 June 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	10 July 2025
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2025 16:03
Last Modified:	10 Jul 2025 16:15
DOI or ID number:	10.1113/jp288473
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/26761

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