I don’t think the ratio matters that much until you’re hitting max absorption rate, which people are saying can be anywhere between 90 grams (2:1 ratio) and 140 grams (1:1 ratio) per hour.
I believe it also scales up with body size.
3 Likes
There is a lot of talk about making your own drink mixes and the right ratios of glucose to fructose. Something that I have been curious about is; is there an ideal ratio of carb to water to maximize absorption. I would assume that the more carb you add the more water is necessary. Curious is anyone knows how much carb per given amount of water.
Apologies if I missed it in the thread.
From the latest AACC podcast, it takes 3-4g water to process 1g of carbs. Given an SIS Beta pack has 80g of carbs, you’ll need 240-320g of water (water g = water ml). Use a standard 500ml bottle.
From SIS:
The product mixed to concentration is 80 grams carbohydrate (2:1 maltodextrin:fructose), 20 mmol/L sodium and 500 ml of fluid per serving.
7 Likes
That seems like a lot of sugar for training.
3 Likes
If you check the SIS store, they often have sales ranging from 30-50% off. It’s still more expensive, but, not much and saves the hassle of making it and has multiple flavors.
1 Like
I bought a 4pk of Gatorade Mix and the tub of carbo gain. I make a batch per container of Gatorade. I use the 2:1 ratio and just do like 40g a bottle for training. Usually on vo2 max session and on days I ride for 3+ hours. No issues with the sugar and this is coming from someone who hasn’t touched Gatorade in years. But now that I hopefully understand how to fuel for things I don’t worry about it as much.
I use 700ml bottles when using the mix.
1 Like
Why is that like 1/3 the price of other malto? It claims 100% pure malto but I am suspicious at the price.
I fear the looks I’d get lugging in a 50lb bag of malto more than I would appreciate the savings, I think. 
But alright, good to know.
1 Like
Hello All,
I took the plunge and made my own formula with Gatorade powder and tapioca maltodextrin. I was surprised what maltodextrin as like as I had never seen it before (extremely fine powder so super light in weight by volume). I was mixing 2:1 by weight, Gatorade to get the 2:1 glucose to fructose ratio (assuming Gatorade is 1:1: glucose:fructose.
I found the malto kind of a hassle and slightly messy as the powder is so fine it fluffs up and leaves a dust behind on your counters and containers (small inconvenience).
I don’t need to mix up a tonne of bottles each week (I only do 1, 90 min trainer ride per week and 1 outdoor ride 3-4 hours, once per week) so I am deciding to go back to a pre made mix for convenience (skratch labs and then eat food, fig bars, bloks, and gels for the additional grams per hour).
However, I have quite a bit of left over malto and don’t want to waste it. I am wondering what are the best ways to consume the malto I have left over:
a - mix it with skratch in a similar weight ratio as what I was doing for Gatorade
b - buy more Gatorade mix and repeat what I did before
c - other
Appreciate any suggestions
You can use the maltodextrin by itself. You don’t need to mix it with anything. The 2:1 ratio only matters when you’re exceeding 60 g/hour, and I suspect not all of your rides will require that level of fueling. Indeed, if you’re following Asker Jeukendrup’s recommendations, he doesn’t suggest going beyond 60 g/hour for rides less than 2.5 hours.
https://www.mysportscience.com/copy-of-shop-infographics?lightbox=dataItem-ipciywyk
The chart is based primarily on duration, so intensity may also play into ideal carb intake. The takeaway, however, is that not all of your rides will require a 2:1 mixture, and you can, at times, use the maltodextrin by itself as a fuel source.
2 Likes
Thank you and good to know as some of these details I had not noted before.
I guess I will just have to do some measurements now to know how many gram’s of the malto are in each “scooper” size I use now.
Solid Advice. What I have been doing differs a bit.
If the IF is less than .7(almost always endurance rides) and is less than 90 minutes, I go straight water to try and foster a greater usage of fat.
As soon as the workout steps above that .7 IF(SS and Above generally) regardless of length, I mix up 90g per hour(60g of powder gatorade, 30g of malto). Even on 60 minute workouts, goal being to train my gut/body to handle that high of a carb intake.
2 Likes
I’ve done a few outdoor rides with a bottle of the above listed homemade batch. I was getting bad salt stains. I didn’t add any salt.
How much salt are y’all adding to a bottle?
It’ll be over 100F here soon in Texas.
I saw one post that said 1Gram. Any other input?
For anyone who is doing the Gatorade & Maltodextrin mix - are you premixing in a container (like an old Gatorade container) or are you mixing by the bottle? I am thinking of ease of preparing?
Right now I been doing it by the bottle, but curious if they blend well if just mixed 2:1 ratio in a bigger batch? Then I don’t need to think about mixing each bottle.
Mike
I mix in bulk. The Gatorade comes with a scoop so I use that with the bulk mix.
I’ve never done per bottle but maybe I should to see if I taste or notice a difference.
1 Like
I do it per bottle, I use a few different size bottles depending on my rides so I’ve just always done it that way. It’s been pretty easy to measure out as well, since most of the time I’m just doing 2 servings of gatorade and 1/3 serving of maltodextrin which turns out to be 3 Tablespoon(T) 1 teaspoon(t), and 2T 2t of Maltodextrin.
If I mix at home I put a little bit of hot water in the bottom of my bottle, add the mix, stir, and top it off with cold water.
I didn’t even think about doing it in bulk, probably because I don’t have a big enough container lying around to do so. I don’t mind measuring since it’s easy with 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon measurements (I also don’t have a digital kitchen scale, which makes measuring a pain if not in 10-gram increments)
2 Likes
I use 1.5 grams of these fasting salts per bottle. I’m still toying with carbs/bottle but generally am between 75g - 100g (2:1 ratio of maltodextrin:fructose).
Has anyone in the US found a cheap Fructose source?
I’ve got the cheap malto from amazon, but the fructose comes in much smaller packages and costs much more. $14 for 500g fructose vs. $24 for 8 lbs of Maltodextrin.
I use regular table sugar for that fructose. If I recall correctly it is 50% fructose.
1 Like
I’ve tried this but it is sickly sweet. Too much for me in large quantities