A recent study of marathon runners out of Barcelona, Spain asked: is there a link between diet and marathon performance, and how does it affect their heart health?
The study concluded the following:
Accurate unsaturated fat, iron, potassium, and magnesium in the diets of runners results in better performance.
Accurate unsaturated fat in runners’ diets results in lower cardiovascular biomarkers.
Accurate unsaturated fat in runners’ diets results in healthy lipidemia.
Training and diet can condition performance and cardiovascular health.
Specific macro- and micronutrients play a key role in marathon performance.
Also noted was that the Fast group carried less weight than the Slow group despite a higher calorie intake, perhaps because they trained more. Low weight might have independent marathon benefits in terms of post-race soreness and elevated cardiac biomarkers.
Slower runners had the highest elevations of biomarkers associated with muscle damage and inflammation. The study suggested that inappropriate weight involves problems beyond a poor performance.