However, a reduction in fat mass has not been confirmed for a 24-hour cycling road race. Knechtle et al. [20] showed that an energy deficit did not always result in a reciprocal loss of adipose subcutaneous tissue or skeletal muscle mass. A find more decrease in body mass could also be attributed to dehydration [2, 5], but dehydration cannot be established without the determination of plasma sodium concentration [Na+] or osmolality in both plasma and urine [43]. Male ultra-MTBers during a 120-km race suffered a significant decrease in both body mass and skeletal mass, but no dehydration Staurosporine was observed when

other determinants of hydration status were assessed [30]. On the contrary, body mass can increase [13, 23] or remain stable [25, 42] in ultra-endurance races with breaks due to an increase in total body water. An increase in total body water can occur in several ways such

as fluid overload [8, 9], plasma [Na+] retention Selleckchem BAY 11-7082 [30] due to an increased aldosterone activity [34], protein catabolism [6], an increased vasopressin activity [44] or an impaired renal function [17, 45]. Prolonged strenuous endurance exercise may lead to an increase in extracellular fluid, plasma volume and total body water [8, 10, 17] and a decrease in haematocrit due to haemodilution [7]. For male 100-km ultra-runners, a loss of both skeletal muscle mass and fat mass with an increase in total body water has been reported [46]. Similar findings were recorded in a Triple Iron ultra-triathlon (i.e. 11.4 km swimming, 540 km cycling, and 126.6 km running) where total body water and plasma volume increased and these changes seemed to be associated with oedema of the feet [10]. Two field studies using plethysmography found a potential association between fluid intake and the formation of peripheral oedema [8, 9]. Moreover, only a few studies investigated changes in body composition

and hydration status in female ultra-endurance athletes [12, 41, 47–52], but the reported findings were not consistent. In open-water ultra-distance swimmers, Weitkunat et al. [12] summarized that changes in body composition and hydration status were different in male compared to female athletes. For ultra-marathoners, 3-oxoacyl-(acyl-carrier-protein) reductase it has been shown that female runners lost body mass during a 24-hour run [41]. Knechtle et al. [47] observed in 11 female 100-km ultra-runners a loss in body mass despite unchanged total body water and plasma [Na+]. On the contrary, in one female ultra-runner during a 1,200-km multi-stage ultra-marathon, body mass increased, percent body fat decreased, while percent total body water and skeletal mass increased [51]. Additionally, there are no studies showing whether changes in body composition and hydration status were associated with an increased prevalence of peripheral oedema in ultra-endurance mountain bikers such as 24-hour ultra-MTBers.