Authorised EU health claim for glycaemic carbohydrates and muscular recovery

Abstract Muscle recovery after strenuous exercise, which is defined as the ability to perform a defined exercise after a protocol aimed at depressing muscle function is considered as a beneficial effect in the context of regulation (EC) 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims. Glycaemic carbohydrates play a key role in physical performance and recovery thanks to their high bioavailability. The array of clinical and mechanistic data available to date shows that ingestion of glycaemic carbohydrates after strenuous exercise can recover muscle glycogen stores which are considered an adequate predictive biomarker of the ability of muscle to contract and perform exercise. The conditions of use of the health claim consider a high intake level of glycaemic carbohydrates to achieve the proposed effect (4 g of glycaemic carbohydrates per kg of body weight, ingested in the 4–6 h following strenuous exercise).