Energy production takes place during the race at the pigeon, mainly from the burning of fat. The energy content of fat is about twice as high as the same amount of carbohydrates or protein. The Dove required not only essential fatty acids from an appropriately high-fat food, but also minerals, vitamins and trace elements in the right proportion, just tailored to these fat metabolism.

Fat metabolism
The oxidation of fatty acids provides nearly four times as much energy as the burning of carbohydrates. Accordingly, the metabolism to also needs more oxygen. It is therefore easy to understand that the performance of the pigeon, the higher is the more oxygen the pigeon during the betting flight. the oxygen from the blood can be transported from the lungs to the muscle cells faster, the more powerful the dove will be. Already at rest the pigeon consumes about 5 times as much oxygen as humans. according to these requirements, the pigeons have an extremely powerful respiratory and circulatory system (air bag system, very big heart).

However only, if the respiratory organs of the pigeon are 100% healthy, she is able to utilize the oxygen from inhaled air.

Hemoglobin binds oxygen and distributes it via the bloodstream to the active metabolic organs in the body. Therefore, a substantial increase of the performance of racing pigeons can be achieved by an increase of hemoglobin content in the blood.

The administration of organic, so-called active iron, leads to a significant increase in the blood-iron value (hematocrit) after a few days and accelerated as the transport of oxygen to the cell (mitochondria). Corresponding energy for exercise performance increases initially and ultimately the performance of the race.

Protein as an energy source
Neuere Erkenntnisse beweisen, dass Tauben ihre Flugenergie nicht ausschließlich aus Fetten gewinnen. Danach decken Brieftauben zu ca. 10 % ihres Energiebedarfs aus Proteinreserven, die im Wesentlichen aus dem Abbau von Muskulatur resultiert. Um das verbrauchte körpereigene Eiweiß möglichst schnell wieder zu ersetzen, sollte bereits am Flugtag das tierische Eiweiß A.P.F. 90 beigefüttert werden, da der Muskelaufbau die meiste Zeit benötigt.