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HUMAN V HORSE
SPORTS NUTRITION
Horses and humans What parallels can we draw? By Catherine Dunnett Bsc, Phd
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utritioN significantly influences athletic performance – at least this is what a recent international olympic Committee (ioC) statement on human sports nutrition has stated. they have also advised that all athletes should adopt specific nutritional strategies before, during, and after training and competition to maximize both their mental and physical performance and recovery. this may not seem earth shattering, but perhaps the significance is that nutrition is held in such high regard as a factor that helps athletes attain optimum exercise performance. Within horseracing, we have tended to regard nutrition as being ‘the icing on the cake’ and perhaps not fundamental to performance. So are there any pointers that we can draw from the approach to sports nutrition in human athletes? in short, the answer is yes. But... racehorses obviously vary from human athletes in many ways, including the structure and function of their digestive system, but also in key aspects of their physiological and biochemical makeup, which contributes to their natural athletic talent. When considering the application of any element of human sports nutrition these differences must be factored in. Carbohydrate – horses can also build glycogen from fibER Carbohydrate is a primary dietary focus for both human and equine athletes, and the ioC recommends that for human athletes carbohydrate should be sufficient to meet their needs during training, but also to replenish carbohydrate stores (glycogen) in the liver and muscles during recovery from training sessions and competition.
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