Sugar for cyclists – how much is too much?

We know that excessive sugar consumption is bad

One thing hasn’t changed. Scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports the belief that excessive sugar consumption is harmful to health. Its effects on dental health and also on weight gain, which can lead to type 2 diabetes, are well documented. There are numerous studies showing a close connection between an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. You can read more about the risks in our previous article, but one thing is certain: sugar can be a source of health problems.

What is the official sugar limit?

The keyword sugar is excessive. What does excessive consumption mean? The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends limiting added sugar intake to less than 10% of total daily energy intake. It adds that additional health benefits are observed when sugar levels are further reduced to below 5%. Similarly, the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that everyone over the age of 2 should limit added sugars to less than 10% of their total daily calorie intake.

The recommended 10% is not very much considering an average diet of 2,000 calories. It’s only 200 kcal, which is equivalent to 50 g of sugar. Cyclists need this sugar to support high-intensity training sessions, racing, and recovery between strenuous days. Learn more about how sugar fits into a cyclist’s diet here. These 50g wouldn’t even be enough for an hour of interval training. So what should cyclists do?

Excessiveness is different for a sedentary person than for an active cyclist

Fortunately, the average 2,000 kcal diet doesn’t really apply to most active cyclists. This calorie intake would be sufficient for someone who is predominantly sedentary. Let’s compare two examples to see the differences more clearly.

• A sedentary adult man weighing 75 kg is expected to burn around 2,000 kcal per day. With a sugar intake limit of 10%, he should consume less than 50g of sugar.
• An active cyclist who has completed a 3-hour bike ride with a few breaks will easily burn more than 4,000 kcal that day, which allows the consumption of 100 g of sugar.

But there’s something else to consider: the demand for sugar. During high-intensity exercise, muscles burn much more sugar for energy, increasing the body’s demand compared to sitting or low-intensity activities. How does this affect sugar regulations?

What is a positive sugar balance?

The cyclist could burn around 450g of sugar during a strenuous three-hour bike ride. Even though they burn twice as many calories as a sedentary person, they burn about 15x more sugar through exercise.

If such a cyclist and sedentary person consumed 200g of sugar per day, they would technically exceed their recommended sugar limit. The cyclist would burn 450g of sugar during the ride, so consuming 200g of sugar would result in a negative sugar balance of -250g. The sedentary person may only burn around 30 g of sugar per day, so they would have a positive sugar balance of 170 g.

In addition, it is also important at what time you consume sugar. If the cyclist eats sugar on the bike or shortly after the ride, it is almost certain that all of the sugar will go directly to the muscle and be used for energy. If the sugar is consumed outside of training, the body has to process it in other ways, such as storing it or converting it into body fat.

This brings us to the question: Is exceeding the 10 percent limit for sugar harmful to cyclists, who burn the sugar immediately for energy and remain in energy balance overall? Let’s explore this in the next article.