There was thread about a month ago about Enervitene and opinions varied. What I can tell you is that here in Italy Enervitene is the leading source of maltodextrine. From my personal experience I can tell you that it definitely gives you a major surge in energy almost seconds after you've taken it. You can actually feel it. Tastewise it's okay, but in my opinion it's a little too sugary and it should be diluted a bit. I usually tend to use it toward the end of marathons instead of coke. It never gave me any stomach problems but I know people who had to rush to the bathroom after taking it. Hope it helps a little. Filippo

I am the guy who wrote the article on the Bikesportmichigan website. I have used Enervitene for years and I think it is awesome. one source of controversy has been the calorie content for the U.S. packaging. In my article I claimed that one cheer pack contains 480 calories. We have reason to believe that may be incorrect. The packaging dietary information is difficult to decipher. We phoned the U.S. manufacturer and they didn;t know whether one cheer pack contained 240 calories (per serving)or 480 calories. Oddly, a "serving size" was listed as "2 packs". Hmmmm. We never have gotten a straight answer. Regardless, I found Enervitene to be a perfect long distance fuel, even better than gels. Also, our customers tend to have no problems with it. My buddy Marcie bought some on a Wednesday and used it in Ironman Wisconsin that weekend and had a great race. She loves it. Few people have been disatified with it and most finr it is "the new answer".

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I have found Enervitene to be consistently the best quality for fuel products. That said, I only really use the Cheer Packs and the Enervitene “Gatorade-type” drink, as I don’t really care for laboratory produced food. Cheer Packs are not a maltodextrin product. They are fructose and glucose with lemon flavor. From my experience glucose is the fastest absorbing and fastest burning fuel that I have used. Maltodextrin is much slower (relatively) in absorption.

I like the cheer packs, you will feel a difference in 2-4 minutes, but they last only 20-30 minutes. Best used at the end of the race, or if you have gotten your food all wrong you can use it for a “jump start” and then correct.

After several emails that got no reply, I finally called the Enervitene folks, and was told that one "cheer pack" has 240 calories.

They didn't seem the slightest bit concerned that the nutritional information on their packaging is (at best) difficult to understand. You'd think they'd be concerned about losing business - I mean, why use a product that you're not sure of, when there are so many other products out there that you can be sure of. Whatever.

Anyway, I have used it and liked it. I've tasted better things, but I've tasted worse, too. I mixed in with water, so you get both hydration and nutrition at the same time, plus it dilutes the taste.

I spoke with the Veltec (wholesale distributor of Ennervitene products in the U.S.) rep Kelly O'Brien yesterday and asked him about the caloric content. Kelly was like, "Gee, Ahh, its tough to tell...Those Italians might not be used to labelling things over there the way they have to here. It's some FDA thing in the U.S...." So, I think it is more than safe to surmise 240 calories is correct. It's still better than gel in my book, and, as CarolJ points out, more versatile.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Maybe this will help clarify things a bit. From the Enervit web site:

This Cheer Pack is a resealable Energy Syrup, with a consistency considerably more runny than the typical Gel. This enables you to consume it with no fuss or any worries. As leading Australian Ironman Triathlon competitor, and ENERVIT user Chris Legh mentions, "the cheer pack takes out all the confusion of carbohydrate intake". The cheer pack will not clog you up, as it literally only takes seconds to enter your stomach. The ENERVITENE Cheer Pack gives you a great source of Carbohydrate and a total of 240 calories per 60ml serving. Perfect for long distance training or events.