Response to: Comment on: “After Dinner Rest a While, After Supper Walk a Mile? A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis on the Acute Postprandial Response to Exercise Before and After Meal Ingestion in Healthy Subjects and Patients with Impaired Glucose Tolerance”

• Published in: Sports medicine (Auckland) Vol. 53; no. 9; pp. 1839 - 1840
• Main Authors: Engeroff, Tobias, Groneberg, David A., Wilke, Jan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.09.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Blood levels; Conflicts of interest; Energy metabolism; Exercise; Food; Food intake; Glucose; Glucose metabolism; Glucose tolerance; Glycogen; Health care; Letter to the Editor; Lipid metabolism; Meals; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Meta-analysis; Metabolism; Muscles; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Sports Medicine; Systematic review
• ISSN: 0112-1642; 1179-2035
• DOI: 10.1007/s40279-023-01883-4

Engeroff et al appreciate the Letter to the Editor by Elsamma Chacko, which adds valuable information and puts the results of their review and meta-analysis in a clinical context. Based on their analysis and earlier work on postprandial and postresorptive glucose and lipid metabolism during physical activity, they agree with Dr. Chacko's assumptions concerning one of the key mechanisms behind the beneficial effects of postprandial exercise on glucose and insulin metabolism. During exercise in the fasted state, the body uses energy reserves, mainly in the form of glycogen from muscle and liver combined with fatty acids from various sources. Contrastingly, the orally ingested glucose can be used immediately by the working muscles during postprandial exercise. Accordingly, the onset of muscle activity should be coordinated with the occurrence of elevated blood glucose levels, which depends, among other things, on the glycemic load as well as on the duration of food intake.