Iron deficiency (ID) is a prevailing nutritional concern amongst the athletic population due to the increased iron demands of this group. Athletes’ ability to replenish taxed iron stores is challenging due to the low bioavailability of dietary sources, and the interaction between exercise and hepcidin, the primary iron-regulatory hormone. This will be the main focus of this episode.

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FTP #40: Rachel McCormick & Peter Peeling - Iron deficiency in endurance athletes: from diagnosis to treatment strategies

On this episode we are talking with Peter Hespel and Chiel Poffé from the University of Leuven / Bakala Academy to provide an update to the topic of exogenous ketones in cycling thanks to their research on this topic. Do ketones improve performance after all? Is there any particular context in which their use is justified? Find out here. 

FTP #39: Peter Hespel and Chiel Poffé - Exogenous ketones in pro cycling: An update on exercise performance and beyond

Today we are bringing back Dr. Dana Lis to have her talk us through some recent research on collagen supplementation in the specific context of explosive exercise performance and we’ll discuss if this may have implications for sprinting performance in cyclists.

FTP #38: Dana Lis - Collagen supplementation, explosive exercise performance and implications for sprinting

A recent food technology innovation created new CHO drinks and gels with added sodium alginate and pectin in solutions of multiple transportable CHO, with the intention of encapsulating those CHO molecules in the stomach forming a gel which allegedly enables a smooth transportation of the drink through the stomach to the intestine. But are the claims of improved gastric emptying, increased CHO oxidation and reduce GI symptoms supported by science? 

FTP #37: Lewis James & Stephen Mears - Carbohydrate Hydrogel Products in endurance sports: the science behind the claims & beyond

On this second episode of this series dedicated exclusively to the female cyclist and endurance female athletes, we are talking again with Kirsty Elliott-Sale and Eimear Dolan about the role of oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) and exercise performance. This episode was based on a recent Meta-Analysis published by the guests themselves on Sports Medicine and they'll tell us what they found. Do OCP users have a lower performance when compared with naturally menstruating women? Is performance superior in OCP taking days vs. OCP withdrawal days? Tune in to find out.

FTP #36: Kirsty Elliott-Sale & Eimear Dolan - The Female cyclist series: oral contraceptives and exercise performance

This is a multi-episode series dedicated exclusively to the female cyclist and other endurance female athletes. On this episode we'll go through a recent Meta-Analysis published by Kelly and Kirsty on Sports Medicine and they'll tell us what they found regarding the influence of the different menstrual cycle phases on exercise performance and how can we produce more high-quality research in the future.

FTP #35: Kelly McNulty & Kirsty Elliott-Sale - The Female cyclist series: Menstrual cycle and endurance exercise performance

On this part 2 on the applicability of low carb, high fat ketogenic diets in endurance athletes, we will resume our talk and put the spotlight on the exercise activities that could benefit from a ketogenic diet approach, as well as some novel areas such as the impact of ketogenic diets in the oral microbiome (nitrate reducing bacteria), it's effects on bone health and the use of exogenous ketones in cycling.

FTP #34: Louise Burke, PhD - PART 2: Ketogenic diets for cycling performance: the future of elite endurance sports?

On today's episode with Prof. Louise Burke from the Australian Catholic University, we discuss the current knowledge on the use of low carb, high fat ketogenic diets in endurance athletes, in particulate the research performed by her group with elite racewalkers. Is this diet approach the future of elite endurance sports? Do they have a place in cycling?

FTP #33: Louise Burke, PhD - Ketogenic diets for cycling performance: the future of elite endurance sports?

Dietary nitrate supplementation produces an ergogenic effect due to the improvement of mitochondrial oxygen efficiency through a reduction in the oxygen cost of exercise that increases vasodilation and blood flow to the skeletal muscle in recreationally active subjects. Today we are talking with Dr. Andrew Jones from the University of Exeter to find out the application of nitrates in cycling.

FTP #32: Andrew Jones, PhD - Dietary nitrates and endurance performance: Where do we stand?

Exercise-associated physiological disturbances alter gastrointestinal function and integrity. These alterations may increase susceptibility to dietary triggers, namely gluten and a family of short-chain carbohydrates known as FODMAPs (fermentable oligo-, di-, monosaccharides and polyols). Today, Dr. Dana Lis talks us through how foods rich in these elements can trigger this symptoms and how to avoid them.

FTP #31: Dana Lis, PhD - Using the low FODMAPs diet in pro cycling: a hands-on approach

Over the last decade it has become clearer that taste is not limited to the oral cavity and it can also affect multiple physiological systems resulting in increased exercise performance. On today's episode Russ Best explains how the taste of carbohydrates, caffeine, menthol, capsaicin and bitter compounds can influence exercise performance.

FTP #30: Russ Best, PhD - Can taste be ergogenic? From sweet, bitter to thermal tastants

Teun Van Erp, a former Sport Scientist at Team Sunweb developed his PhD on studying the load, intensity and performance of male and female professional riders from Team Sunweb. we’ll go through the training characteristics of pro cyclists, loads, the power zones of cyclists’ when competing, we’ll talk about gross efficiency of pedalling, women vs male road cycling, reliability of some training parameters and some other interesting geeky stuff.

FTP #29: Teun Van Erp, PhD - Load, Intensity and Performance in Professional Road Cycling

Exhaustive or unaccustomed intense exercise can cause exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) and its undesirable consequences may decrease the ability to exercise and to adhere to a training program. Dietary and supplemented polyphenols appear to be a promising way of reducing EIMD. On this episode, we go around the latest evidence on this subject and the applicability it has to athletic populations.

FTP #28: Joanna Bowtell, PhD & Vitor H. Teixeira, PhD - The underrated role of polyphenols in sports nutrition

RED-S is the broader, more comprehensive name for what was formerly known as female athlete triad (or simply the triad), which was a condition seen in females participating in sports that emphasize leanness or low body weight. As it was also seen in males, the name was changed to the comprehensive term RED-S which may be more frequent than we think and that can have serious consequences not only for exercise performance of athletes but for their long-term health as well.

FTP #27: Helena Trigueiro & Rita Giro, - RED-S & disordered eating in endurance athletes: A nutritionists’ perspective

In the last years, research in the area of probiotics has progressed considerably and significant advances have been made in the selection and characterization of specific probiotic cultures. As expected, a growing number of dietary supplements containing probiotics are commercially available worldwide, and the number of products being marketed and claiming to improve the health and performance of athletes continues to increase substantially with common oversimplifications and generalization of a complex topic. In this episode with Dr. Jamie Pugh we’ll present a balanced overview on Probiotic supplementation while recognising how complex the gut microbiota is and the common misinterpretations and limitations of the current research on probiotics use in athletes.    

FTP #26: Jamie Pugh, PhD - Probiotic supplementation for health and performance: a balanced overview

Fuel the Pedal is your source of science-based nutrition for cycling based sports. Here we bring you the top researchers and experts on the field to discuss the lattest evidence in cycling performance optimization and health. HOST: Gabriel Baltazar-Martins, Nutritionist, MSc Sports Nutrition, PhD student in Health Sciences. Portuguese based in Madrid. Language: English

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