Sugar seems fine for most pros. Take for example what Patrick Lange shared yesterday while training in Majorca. Some gummies, a Snickers bar and coke

For sure, there are people with fructose sensitivity. Those folks would want a much lower fructose approach. If someone has fructose sensitivity, a 2:1 gluc:fruc ratio is likely to be quite offensive. Most folks do not have such a sensitivity and I'd caution against anyone reading this going down this thought path before fully examining their hydration and implementation of approach. Sensitivities are much more rarely the cause of gut problems than today's hyper-tracking-capable hyper-testing-capable monitor-everything culture might have us believe.

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Dr. Harrison,

You mentioned this on another thread and I had a question. When I calculate the macros for the at-home drink, it looks like about 26-28g carbs/100cal. Is there a limit to how many calories can/should be ingested during a race? Looks like it would be 400-500 calories per hour with this drink mix, which seems high to me. Is it better to take in too many calories in order to hit carbohydrate goals? Thanks!

I'm sure Dr Alex will have more to add or some delicate re-shaping of my layman's answer, but a gram of carbohydrate always = 4 cals.

So there's really no difference between carb and calorie goals or limits (unless you're also mixing in fat/protein etc, which you're not), it's just a different way of expressing it.

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Yes, the calorie limits that float around the internet are largely just terrible outdated advice. There are lots of documented reports of folks in the 500-650 calories/hour range during long endurance events. How they do it: predominately (or exclusively) carbs, specifically mostly glucose and fructose sources. (like sucrose and maltodextrin)

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Agreed.

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Awesome, thanks to both of you! What I'm consistently hearing is that there is a LOT of misunderstanding/outdated information out there around nutrition. Really appreciate you clearing things up - shows that Googling this stuff nowadays is essentially useless.

That's correct. :)

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This is AWESOME! Thank you so much for posting all of this. I believe that nutrition is the biggest reason for success/failure in long distance.

I was going with 2:1 complex carbs (malto) to simple (gatorade) for the osmolality benefit, but you're saying that's not really a concern, correct? The osmolality of sodium is important, but not the carbs?

Somebody else posted this formula earlier and you would say this is what you are proposing as a good ratio?

1.25 cups of table sugar
1 scoop of standard gatorade powder
1 TSP of sodium citrate

So if I had a huge tub of maltodextrin and also gatorade powder, what is a mix of that I could use to finish off the malto powder over time?

Also, one unspoken reason to use gatorade powder in your mix people haven't mentioned here is it comes pre-dyed. Helps you see how much you have left in your bottles instead of purely clear liquids. If I do have a clear fuel, I add a drop of food coloring. Different colors for different stages of the race/concentrations of fuel.

That recipe works!

Replace an eighth to a quarter of your sugar with your malto for a while, and you'll be good to go.

Agreed re: color being handy!

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Just an update - I'm shocked at how well the table sugar and just a tad of gatorade powder works. All my "education" on how that's just too much simple sugar and there needs to be way more maltodextrin in there is rocking my brain. I did 300 calories per hour for 3 hours no problem whatsoever on the bike last weekend. Not the biggest and most decisive test for sure, but I previously thought that was basically impossible with simple sugars.

I don't have sodium citrate laying around, so I used sodium alginate, which is ok but I don't strongly recommend it. It's made from seaweed and the amount of it that it takes to get 500mg+ sodium per hour is enough to give the fuel mix a slight seaweed flavor. Not that appetizing and therefore not that ideal. Works great for "gelling" the fuel, which some people may want though.

Two questions - 1. What's your take on maple syrup? I used to use it a LOT as my primary fuel, mixed with malto, and loved it. One cool attribute is it's non-sticky and rinses off gear immediately with just a little water.

2. Besides Amazon, can I find sodium citrate at H-E-B or Walmart or an Asian food store? What aisles? I looked for it last week at my local huge grocery store and couldn't find it.

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Right!? Rocked my brain too.

"Education" is a great way to put it. I've got a couple interesting videos coming out that might shed some light here. :)

1. It's mostly fine. There's other stuff in it. But it'll work almost as well as plain sugar. Maybe indistinguishably well, depending on the brand, and no I haven't done any lab testing to figure out which ones are best. Eventually I'll do a video on maple syrup too.
2. I've never seen sodium citrate anywhere besides amazon. I've never looked online outside of amazon, but have looked in several brick and mortar stores.

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Thoughts on adding No Salt(potassium) to the mix?

I have done it the last 2 races and it was nice addition to the sugary taste

I hear you, but I had something positive happen with the alginate that I usually use as an indicator of great sodium dosing and absorption. I had zero craving for salty or savory foods at the end of the ride, which I almost always do get if I don't get enough sodium in my fuel/drink. But I won't claim any facts because this wasn't an apples-to-apples test since I was also using all simple sugars instead of half or more of my fuel from maltodextrin. I'd take that as great sodium absorption for whatever reason, but I'm also interested in the science behind what you say. If I recall correctly, I was doing 5 grams of sodium alginate per hour to get around 500mg sodium out of it. It's possible all the gelling and better sugar uptake from simple sugars was hydrating me better and that reduced the craving for salt afterwards, regardless of how well the sodium was absorbed during the ride.

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I typically don't recommend adding potassium to the mix. But a small amount for flavor won't hurt anything.

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I love this thread.
Apologies if this question has already been answered.
Sis claim their gels are isotonic. I interpreted this as ‘needs no extra water to be absorbed by the body’.
I have separated fluid intake from fueling by taking sis gels and drinking water with electrolyte tablets.
Is this way of thinking correct?
How much water, salt would I need to add for a given amount of table sugar to make it isotonic.

Isotonicity doesn't matter nearly as much as SIS want you to believe that it does. Energy density, and simply grams of carbs per hour, paired with reasonable hydration status and not-insane carb intake concentrations are fine.

Read: drink enough to stay hydrated, and drink/consume carbs+sodium+water regularly, and you'll tolerate the gel, whether it's "isotonic" or not.

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Is table salt OK, and if so how much/what ratio?

Yes, usually. In not very sweaty scenarios.

When sweating more, sodium citrate is better.

Up to half a tsp table salt per hour or per liter is usually tolerated okay. If gut issues, use sodium citrate.

Sodium intake should be roughly correlated to fluid intake needs.

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What percentage by weight is the sodium in sodium citrate? If it varies by brand, I'm using the brand you said you use.

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half-baked thoughts ahead. Implement at own risk:

I've formerly linked Pure brand. I stopped because they dragged their feet for years on getting their nutrition facts on their label. I now usually link Nutricost because of that. But on further review spurred by your question, and the fact I'm building an app that may link out to products.... I've got a very detailed answer for you, replete with a fun spreadsheet. I'll share a link eventually.

Here's the TLDR:
It varies by product. Nutricost = 215mg/g. Pure brand = 235 mg/g. (they finally labeled it. about time.)

Most are between 200-245mg/g, I believe.

26.7% is the theoretical chemical percentage, but if I remember right, the typical range for commercial product is 20-24.5%... I think.... Variability across products doesn't seem to be high enough to matter a whole lot, since exactness in sodium intake is entirely unnecessary. Ballpark is fantastic. Way out of ballpark and you get into serious trouble. Small percentage errors don't matter.

Variance range by volume is ~40% from top to bottom of the market, I believe. I've seen as little as 940mg/tsp and as much as 1400mg/tsp. But it's always a very similar variance by weight.

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FWIW, I bought Judee's Sodium Citrate 11.25 oz off Amazon. It's nutrition label say 700mg per 1/2 tsp.

ZenTriBrett wrote:

What percentage by weight is the sodium in sodium citrate? If it varies by brand, I'm using the brand you said you use.

For all who are interested, here's the breakdown of every product I found on Amazon. No affiliation.... but it is replete with a "would Alex buy it?" guide. :)

Disclosure: The "would Alex buy it guide" feels painfully self-absorbed to think that you would care about what I'd buy, but I suspect some folks may want to know because it's been a common question, so there we have it.

Question for the masses: If I started using an affiliate program that allowed me to link whatever companies I wanted, would that change your perception of the quality of my information?

I personally doubt the veracity of statements made by people and sources who post affiliate links. It's why I'm not affiliated with any companies yet. I've avoided it like the plague. Just want to take your temperature here!


(Assume that I make it clear I'm continuing to share broadly and honestly, and that I'll be using something like the amazon affiliate program or only signing with companies who offer me non-exclusive affiliation and full rights to be completely honest about which of their products suck. I'll always be a straight shooter regardless. Feel free to DM me.)

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
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So, when we are talking about (for example) 1000 mg of sodium pr hour, are we actually talking about ~235 mg sodium/hour? Or are we talking about ~4000 mg of sodium citrate pr hour?