THE SHORT ANSWER
Tim Podlogar, sports nutritionist, carbohydrate metabolism researcher, has appeared on the Roadman Cycling Podcast 2 times. Here's where Podlogar lands on gut health. The positions below are drawn from those conversations, quoted directly.
WHO IS TIM PODLOGAR?
Tim Podlogar is the Slovenian sports nutritionist whose peer-reviewed work on high-rate glucose-fructose fuelling has shaped how the World Tour, Ironman field, and serious age-group athletes now fuel long efforts. His research on carbohydrate transporter saturation, on-bike absorption rates, and gut training matters because it provides the experimental basis for what every modern cyclist's fuelling plan now looks like. For Roadman listeners chasing high-carb fuelling protocols without GI distress, his work is one of the most-cited research starting points in cycling.
PODLOGAR ON GUT HEALTH
Podlogar’s key positions on gut health.
- Gut training is real and trainable — chronic exposure to high-carb fuelling shifts what the gut can absorb without distress.
- Race-day fuelling has to be rehearsed in long training rides for weeks — gut tolerance is not a race-day decision.
IN PODLOGAR’S OWN WORDS
Verbatim from Tim Podlogar’s appearances on the podcast.
“Most gels were still malt to dextrin only or glucose only. There were no fructose in them and there were a few brands that actually had fructose in them but were 2:1 ratio. But then already at the time this was I'm talking about 2017 2018 it was pretty clear the research was already out there for a long time that perhaps the ratio of 1 to 0.8 is the ratio that should work for most people.”
“If you just perform well at a low body mass and don't have struggles with eating or keeping that body weight, I think that's probably what you are after. Whereas if you are really struggling to keep the body weight low no matter what they do and they need to starve themselves then they should ask themselves a question: what happens if I eat a little bit more, I'm a bit heavier, but then I will finally be able to do the training sessions that I really struggled with before.”
“When you go to the extremes what happens is also your energy expenditure outside the bike will go down, the recovery will worsen, and everything just shuts down, the body is in a survival mode. And then it also makes you binge eat perhaps on certain days and it's called a yo-yo effect. It's like well described in the literature.”
HEAR IT ON THE PODCAST
Episodes where Tim Podlogar covers gut health and related ground.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
What does Tim Podlogar say about gut health?
Tim Podlogar, sports nutritionist, carbohydrate metabolism researcher, has appeared on the Roadman Cycling Podcast 2 times. Here's where Podlogar lands on gut health. The positions below are drawn from those conversations, quoted directly.
What is Podlogar's main point on gut health?
Gut training is real and trainable — chronic exposure to high-carb fuelling shifts what the gut can absorb without distress.
Which Roadman Cycling Podcast episodes cover Tim Podlogar on gut health?
Podlogar discusses gut health in this episode: "Race Weight & Carb Timing Mistakes | Roadman Cycling Podcast".
MORE FROM PODLOGAR
EXPLORE THE TOPIC
Cycling Nutrition— The Complete Guide →OTHER EXPERTS ON GUT HEALTH