Energy Foods, Performance Assay

Energy Foods

From time to time special foodstuffs are advertised as having special qualities of providing "extra" energy or o f otherwise increasing the strength, endurance, speed or skill of museular work. These are, at best, only calorics in an expensive form.

A wholesome diet which contains adequate amounts of the essential foodstuffs needs no supplements for most physical labor and sports competition. If the labor is very heavy or if the competitive event is prolonged, a bar of candy and a sweetened beverage taken at intervals of about one and one-half hours are usually sufficient to restore energy substances in the body to a normal level.

Performance Assay

An analysis of experiments which purport to demonstrate improved performance due to drugs or special food preparations in excess of normal requirements has failed to confirm the claims in most cases. Changes in performance attributed to these foods and drugs are often due to training or to practice of the event. In some studies the work was not measured exactly and experimental conditions were otherwise unsatisfactory. In studies in which the experimental substance was not masked, the improved performance may very well have been due entirely to the suggestive influence of the advertised beneficial properties of the substance. As the result of such analysis claims for the beneficial effects of the following substances upon physical performance have been discounted: lecithin in eggs and soya-beans, vitamin B1 in yeast, vitamin C, liver preparations, phosphates, calcium, alkalis, oxygen, ultra-violet radiation, digitalis, Coramine, Cardiazol and adrenocortical hormone.

A discussion of the action of the various foods and drugs which have been shown to affect work performance is presented no that their use may be evaluated.