Interesting study took a look at the question of whether it is high fat or low carb (Leckey JJ, Hoffman NJ, Parr EB, Devlin BL, Trewin AJ, Stepto NK, Morton JP, Burke LM, Hawley JA. High dietary fat intake increases fat oxidation and reduces skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration in trained humans. FASEB J. 2018 Jun;32(6):2979-2991.) (Full PDF).
High dietary fat intake increases fat oxidation and reduces skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration in trained humans.
It’s not a surprise that your body will burn more fat when you consume less carbohydrates. The Food Quotient (Food Quotient) predicts exactly that.
Mitochondria respiration (Mitochondrial Respiration) is:
…the set of metabolic reactions and processes requiring oxygen that takes place in mitochondria to convert the energy stored in macronutrients to adenosine triphosphate(ATP), the universal energy donor in the cell.
I don’t know enough to know whether or not reduced mitochondrial respiration is good or bad for athletic performance. It seems like reduced rates of ATP would be bad for energy but is that energy made up in other ways? Is the loss offset by the increase in BHOB (ketone bodies)?