Many marathon runners know the boost that can come from popping a mid-race energy gel. (Mmmm, calorie-rich goop.) But according to new research published in Science Advances, when it comes to endurance events, there’s a limit to how much energy the human body can draw from breaking down, or metabolizing, food. That metabolic limit depends on how long whatever tortu… — err, event you’re enduring lasts. But importantly, after a certain point in time, it plateaus, suggesting humans have a universal cap for how much energy their bodies can absorb.
It all started with a race. Not just any race, though — a 140-day transcontinental race across the U.S. called, fittingly, Race Across USA (RAUSA). Starting in the Los Angeles area and ending in Washington D.C., participants ran essentially a marathon a day for over four months in 2015 to raise awareness of obesity in America. Bryce Carlson, one of ...
