48 years ago, at the Montreal 1976 Olympics, pasta revolutionized sports nutrition, replacing the “Marine Diet.” Today, carbs remain essential for athletes’ performance and recovery. An article on the website of the International Pasta Organization (IPO) provides enlightening information on this topic.
48 years ago, at Montreal 1976, sports nutrition was revolutionised by the introduction of pasta, overthrowing the “Marine Diet”, based on fats and proteins. And today, even the US Olympic Committee guidelines consider carbohydrates vital for an athlete’s body (and mind), before, during, and after a competition.
In a year of major sporting events, from the European Football Championship to the Paris Games, the “Carbohydrate Olympics” are held every day at the tables of millions of amateur athletes and anyone who, in order to maintain or regain their level of fitness, sometimes associates physical activity with unhealthy diets. Almost all of them start by reducing or eliminating carbohydrates completely, from the Ketogenic diet to intermittent fasting, to a gluten-free diet. However, science does not actually recommend diets high in protein and low in carbs for active people. Not to mention the countless evidence of the benefits of a “pasta diet” for anyone who practices sport.
Michelangelo Giampietro
The comeback of carbohydrates has a precise symbolic date: the 1976 Olympics, when for the first time a pasta chef entered the kitchens of the Olympic village in Montreal. Until then, an athlete’s diet was based mainly on noble proteins and energy was sought in fats. They called it the “Marine Diet,” with explicit reference to the culture that based its menu around meat. Until the 1970s, anyone who did a little physical activity ate the same thing: plain rice, steak and salad. “It’s nuts”, says Professor Michelangelo Giampietro, Italian specialist in food science and sports doctor. “Digesting a steak could take up to 3-4 hours… with essentially the worst possible effect during a competition, when the blood that should have gone to the muscles to support the physical strain, may still have been needed to finish digestion.” The revolution came about with the help of some Italian sports physicians, convinced of the advantages of the Mediterranean diet, centred around carbohydrates and pasta in particular, providing athletes with a slow-absorbing “fuel”. The great results achieved by Italian champions such as Pietro Mennea and Klaus Dibiasi did the rest, attracting the attention and curiosity of experts in the field.
Since then, the road to the “Mediterraneanisation” of sports nutrition has been mapped out. As a sign of the changing times, in its nutritional guidelines for athletes, even the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, identifies three dietary models that always include the consumption of carbohydrates and pasta in increasing quantities during competition days.
Among the greatest international athletes of all time there have been several pasta ambassadors: from Olympic medallist Michael Phelps, who ate 1kg of pasta a day, to tennis players Serena Williams and Roger Federer, who always had a plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce before matches, to Usain Bolt, Federica Pellegrini, Marcell Jacobs and Gianmarco Tamberi, who eat pasta at least once a day.
This is proof that carbohydrates should not only be consumed by anyone doing physical activity, but also that they are a key nutrient across the board for all sports. Of all the foods rich in carbohydrates, pasta is the real added value of sports nutrition. Ideal before competition-training, when combined with light sauces it is nutritious and easy to digest, whereas post physical exertion it optimises recovery and facilitates rest; due to the presence of carbohydrates and amino acids, in particular tryptophan, pasta is one of the foods that promotes the production of serotonin. With the added advantage, including psychological, of being an all-round pleasure: comforting, familiar, delicious, almost a reward. “There are no ‘evil or redeeming’ foods or nutrients in the life of an athlete or any person”, declares Professor Michelangelo Giampietro. “Pasta is perfect, even better if incorporated into a Mediterranean diet, the most suitable for sports nutrition. This model is well balanced because it is varied, does not prohibit the intake of certain foods or nutrients and fits perfectly with the recommended daily consumption by athletes of 6-10g of carbohydrates per kg of desired body weight, for optimum energy supply (about 55-60% of daily calorie intake) during all stages of the activity, from training, recovery, to competition days.”
WHY CARBOHYDRATES ARE FUEL FOR ATHLETES
The human body has the capacity to store carbohydrates as glycogen in the muscles and the liver, and its storage allows for a readily available supply of glucose, and therefore energy. If the body is unable to restore sufficient glycogen reserves due to overly strenuous training, poor recovery time and/or carbohydrate intake, the most obvious effects are early fatigue, lower performance and in the long run a negative effect on the immune system.
“If we follow diets that do not include, or include few carbohydrates, we risk feeling more fatigue and have lower performance ability during training. Not only that. Our ability to concentrate is also compromised”, explains Professor Michelangelo Giampietro. “Muscle glycogen is consumed during exercise, so diets with high concentrations of carbohydrates increase their reserves, resulting in improved performance. And this applies to every type of sport, from amateur to professional, regardless of the discipline being practised.”