17/06/21
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It was only in the 19th century that it became possible to understand the process that leads from the ingestion of food to the actual production of energy in the body. In particular, studies on glycolysis took place from 1860 onwards with Louis Pasteur and only reached their peak in 1940, with Neuberg, Gerty and Carl Cori.
Carbohydrates are fuel for the body
Briefly, we could say that carbohydrates are the fuel needed for the human machine to function. Carbohydrates are composed of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen in a 1:2:1 ratio. They are therefore distinguished according to the number of molecules of simple sugars from which they are composed (the commonly known sugar is sucrose, which is composed of one molecule of glucose and one of fructose and is therefore a disaccharide).
- MONOSACCHARIDES, consisting of a single sugar molecule:
- monosaccharides are glucose, fructose and galactose;
- DISACCHARIDES which are precisely composed of two sugar molecules and are:
- maltose, lactose and sucrose;
- POLYSACCHARIDES which are carbohydrates with 3 or more sugar molecules, thus:
- Starches, glycogen and fibres.
It has been established that carbohydrates produce about 4 calories per gram ingested, but how does the process that turns them into ATP – available or muscle energy – take place?
The digestion of carbohydrates
The first step is the simplification of polysaccharides into monosaccharides ready to be processed by the body. This process takes place thanks to the enzyme α-amylase present first in saliva and then in the pancreatic juices of the intestine.
Glycolysis
The second step is glycolysis proper, which consists of five steps (i.e. the intervention of several enzymes) allowing the passage of glucose into:
- Glucose 6-phosphate, then this into
- Fructose 6-phosphate, then
- Fructose 1,6-diphosphate (or biphosphate) from which finally
- dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate.
What is fructose 1,6-diphosphate
Fructose 1,6-diphosphate is already available energy, i.e. the truly activated version of glucose that has acquired two phosphates. This molecule, which has a very high energy value, can therefore split to release compounds that are really expendable by the human organism.
Pharmacology started producing fructose 1,6-diphosphate as early as the middle of the last century for various therapeutic purposes. But it is since the 1980s that its enormous impact in sports medicine has been recognised, due to the effectiveness that fructose 1,6-diphosphate has in loading the body with energy that can be immediately spent.
Fructose 1,6-diphosphate and VO2max
It’s the Ripari and Pieralisi research that reveals that the use of this carbohydrate leads to an improvement in aerobic capacity or VO2max. The experiment compared a placebo, normal dextrose and fructose 1,6-diphosphate, showing that the latter resulted in an improvement in VO2max of as much as 12%.
Sprintade® ATP BOOSTER and ATP BOOSTER 3.0
Sprintade® ATP BOOSTER and ATP BOOSTER 3.0 introduces this concept into sports nutrition supplementation. Fructose 1,6-disphosphate is a molecule that can pass through the gastric wall and be spent very quickly by the body, even at critical moments of exertion.
