Nutrition & Skiing Performance
BY RON KIPP, PSIA-I ALPINE EDUCATION MANAGER
 

There are many sports nutrition products on the shelves today. While all of them try to present themselves as science-based, only a handful of the companies that make these products actually do scientific research. PacificHealth Labs (Acceleradeâ) has not only done its share of scientific research, but is the only brand to have shown physiological benefits and performance increases with skiers.

Summary of the ski research It has long been known that intense exercise causes microscopic muscle damage. This damage is part of what makes skiers tired and consequently sore the following day.

Muscle damage was reduced by half in intermediate to expert recreational skiers drinking Accelerade, a carbprotein sports drink, compared to a matched group of skiers drinking the same amount of water disguised as an ergogenic sports drink. Neither group knew what they were drinking. Muscle damage was measured from pre- and post-skiing blood samples. Myoglobin and creatine kinase, both indicators of muscle damage, were shown to be twice as high in the group of skiers that drank only water. This coincided with selfreports in which the skiers drinking Accelerade indicated less perceived exertion using Borg’s RPE scale during three hours of skiing.

Research with alpine ski racers has also reported reduced perceived exertion in athletes consuming a carb-protein supplement. Consuming Accel Gelsâ while training, ski racers reported a significant reduction in Rate of Perceived Exertion on the Borg 10-point scale as compared to members of a control group.

In another study, ski racers using Accel Gels were able to finish over two and a half times as many slalom runs as skiers drinking plain water. This would suggest that there was an increase in neuro-muscular efficiency resulting in better coordination and proprioception, while fatigue was