In a small study, volunteers who were shown
chocolate and sports drinks after an exercise
workout could not correctly guess how much would be
an equal reward for the calories they had just
burned.
Surprisingly, they chose amounts that were much too
small either underestimating how many calories they
had burned or overestimating how many were in the
foods.
Following periods of physical activity, it is not
uncommon for exercisers to increase their energy
intake as a reward deemed earned.
Consumers’ awareness of the energy within food and
expended from exercise has previously been found to
be limited.
Therefore, the aim was to investigate whether
habitual exercisers (50 adults and 49 children from
5 sports clubs) were able to conceptualise the
energy expenditure (EE), following 1 h of their
regular sports training, into a quantifiable amount
of perceived energy compensation (PEC) in the form
of food (chocolate) or drink (sports drink).
Mean percentage accuracy for the PEC against EE
matched <30% (±29%), a significant underestimation
irrespective of sex or sport.
Percentage accuracy failed to significantly
correlate to age.
These findings indicate a necessity to improve
nutrition education surrounding the energy costs of
exercise relative to the energy contained within
foods/drinks for both adults and children.
See also
I have to walk how many miles to burn off this soda?
For more information
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition - Nature
J L Varley-Campbell, M S Moore, R E Ewen and C A
Williams
Perceived energy compensation following various
sports: an age and sex comparison. Preliminary
observations
link...
MDN |