Sugary drink after intense exercise speeds up liver, but not muscle, energy storage compared to glucose in trained athletes

Sucrose ingestion resulted in a 3.4 g/h greater liver glycogen repletion rate compared to glucose following exercise.

• Postexercise muscle glycogen concentrations increased similarly after ingestion of sucrose and glucose, with no significant differences between treatments.
• Liver glycogen concentrations showed a trend towards greater increases following sucrose ingestion compared to glucose, with a time × treatment interaction approaching significance.
• Liver volume significantly increased only after sucrose ingestion during the 300-minute recovery period.
• Total liver glycogen content rose more substantially with sucrose, increasing from 53.6 ± 16.2 g to 86.8 ± 29.0 g, compared to glucose's increase from 49.3 ± 25.5 g to 65.7 ± 27.1 g.
• The findings suggest that sucrose could be more effective than glucose for liver glycogen replenishment in trained athletes postexercise.

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