Carbohydrate Mouth Rinsing For Enhanced Cycling Performance

Your ability to maintain both physical and mental capacity during competition is undoubtedly very important to success.

One method of achieving this is through rinsing carbohydrates (CHO) in your mouth intermittently for the duration of exercise/competition.

Konishi et al (2017) tested this method by recruiting individuals to run on a treadmill at 75% Vo2max for 65 minutes before completing an ‘executive function test’. In other words, they made them physically tired and tested their ability to stay focused, pay attention and make quick, decisive decisions.

Every 10 minutes during the test, the runners were asked to swill a carbohydrate drink in their mouth for 5 seconds (not swallow).

Interestingly, mouth rinsing allows you to gain the neural benefits of carbohydrates without fully ingesting it…and therefore a nice strategy for those who experience gastrointestinal issues during competitions. Because sometimes, you just don’t want to swallow.

The results suggest that NOT rinsing carbohydrates significantly increased reaction time, where rinsing carbohydrate maintained reaction time and mental capacity.

In previous studies, this protocol has been shown to improve running performance and decrease ratings of perceived exertion through activating the reward centres in the brain.

Other research has shown that the presence of CHO in the oral cavity can increase heart rate variability (HRV) and can positively impact executive function.

Finally, this research showed that rinsing CHO throughout exercise can decrease stress hormones (norepinephrine) which have previously shown to impair cognitive function.

Ultimately, if you need to be mentally sharp during short(er) high intensity sessions or races and struggle to ingest CHO during, CHO mouth rinsing appears to be a highly effective tool for your performance toolbox.

- Coach Chris