Powerade worth revisiting after watching podcast 296?

Nutrition
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In episode 296 (at the 1h 23min mark) the team mentions drinks based on 1:1 ratio of fructose to maltodextrin appear to be having more and more science backing in terms of performance. Afterwards I spent some time unsuccessfully trying to buy the maltodextrin and fructose powder (amazon canada is pretty bad).

Then I found that Powerade appears to be a blend of both maltodextrin and fructose (link: Sports Drinks and Athletic Performance | SportMedBC ) although I couldn’t find the exact ratio.

A quick glance around the internet seems that people are not very fond of Powerade for cycling. Any reason why? Does anyone have a source for exact breakdown of sugars powerade, and what are your thoughts in general?

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Found this on the internet…must be true :wink:

I’ve actually used my son’s GoGo SqueeZ’s in a pinch before :+1:

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Interesting. that chart indicates that its up-to 1:1 ratio, but we don’t know exactly what.

This site seems to indicate its close to 0.7:1 with 8g glucose to 12g fructose:

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Shout out to grapes! I might start having those around. I could happily put away a small handful of those during those breaks between intervals.

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I think the vast majority of “normal” beverages, including most juices, soft drinks and mainstream sports drinks are 1:1, since high fructose corn syrup and table sugar are both pretty close to 1:1.

You can imagine how sweet they’d be if you doubled the concentration. That’s one reason why 1:1 is fairly difficult to achieve in a “high end” sports drink with higher caloric density. Much easier to go to 2:1 and just dump in a bunch of non-sweetening maltodextrin.

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You can literally turn any fruit into a delicious 1:1 energy snack by dumping on a big scoop of table sugar (sucrose).

Nothing unhealthy about it as long it’s a calculated amount that you’ll burn it off during your workout.

Every fruit is “in season” with enough sugar…

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Not sure the dentists would agree with “nothing unhealthy” but good tip.

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“I’ve actually used my son’s GoGo SqueeZ’s”

No need to hide behind your son :wink: I buy them for me, and I’m 52 years old. LOL!

Seriously, they’re not a bad alternative to the often times overly sweet gels. They don’t pack the calories as a gel but pair it with a banana…not a bad combo.

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I’m putting out a review of all endurance beverages and hadn’t found this. You have no idea how much time you just saved me. THANK YOU.

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Somewhere between 0.8:1 & 1.2:1 is probably optimal, if I had to make an educated guess based on all available scientific literature.

Handy trick: add sucrose to any mixture and it moves it closer to that range.

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Probably because they fail to market to cyclists well. They market primarily to team sport athletes.

Thoughts in general:
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/?post=last-7417228#first
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/?post=last-7444621#first

More carb ratio and sugar discussion in my activity history if you’re interested. All the ones with carbs or sugar in the thread title.

TLDR = Add table sugar to anything you plan to buy, and it makes it more optimal. Ironic.