Electrolyte Drink Ingredient Comparison

Triathlon Forum
1

I am trying to figure out what’s the best/natural/healthiest electrolyte drink out there. I list some examples of ones I have used.

Ironman PERFORM ingredients:

C2MAX ENERGY BLEND (MALTODEXTRIN, FRUCTOSE, DEXTROSE), CITRIC ACID, SODIUM CITRATE, SODIUM CHLORIDE, CALCIUM SILICATE, POTASSIUM CITRATE, NATURAL FLAVOUR, TUMERIC (COLOUR).

Web sites says it’s made with natural flavours and without the use of high-fructose corn syrup.

http://www.powerbar.com/products/445/ironman-perform-sports-drink-mix.aspx

Gatorade ingredients:

Sucrose, dextrose, citric acide, natural and artifical flavor, salt, sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, calcium silicate, modified food starch, caramel color, red 40.

GU brew ingredients:

Maltodextrin, Fructose, Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Potassium Citrate, Turmeric

ZYM ingredients:

Citric acid, sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, calcium carbonate, magnesium oxide, sucrose, ascorbic acid, cyanocobalamin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, calcium D-pantothenate, acesulfame potassium, riboflavin-5-phosphate.

Nuun ingredients:

Citric acid, sorbitol, sodium carbonate, natural colors flavors, sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, polyethylene glycol, magnesium sulfate, sodium benzoate, calcium carbonate, acesulfame potassium, riboflavin-5-phosphate.

Table sugar is sucrose, which is half fructose, half glucose. High-fructose corn syrup is 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose.

http://news.yahoo.com/brain-image-study-fructose-may-spur-overeating-210254342.html

It sounds like any drink with sucrose or fructose is not optimal for the body? ZYM and Nuun seem like good options.

Recommendations? What is everyone else using?

2

Check out Scratch Labs
.

3

Hammer Nutrition’s Heed
.

4

Check out Scratch Labs

+1 Both the Exercise and Everyday mixes: http://www.skratchlabs.com/collections/drinks
.

5

Skratch Labs or (similar) Osmo Nutrition.

6

I used NUUN up until I competed beyond Olympic. Now I’m going with First Endurance Drink. Has the other electrolytes not present in other drinks and actually taste good. There seems to be good evidence to suggest that most issues blamed on electrolyte deficiencies are actually from going beyond ones trained performance. But I’ll let you look that up or let somebody else chime in. I’ll stick with my First Endurance and keep it to a strict regiment.

7

I like http://www.succeedscaps.com/products/amino/
.

8

I like http://www.succeedscaps.com/products/amino/
guy asks for a natural electrolyte drink and you give him one with artificial flavor and yellow dye. great advice

9

I like http://www.succeedscaps.com/products/amino/
guy asks for a natural electrolyte drink and you give him one with artificial flavor and yellow dye. great advice

The succeed drinks are no more unnatural than most of the items listed already… ie gaterade…

Besides two of the three isn’t bad: best/natural/healthiest

10

osmo!

http://osmonutrition.com/
.

11

2X Tim
.

12

+4 Scratch Labs.

13

It sounds like any drink with sucrose or fructose is not optimal for the body?

I’d encourage you to review that conclusion w.r.t. maximum carbohydrate absorbtion.

14

Why not be in TOTAL control of what you injest and blend your own?

For short stuff under 90 minutes I’ll use a scoop of dextrose and a squirt of lemon juice. Between 90 and 120 minutes I’ll add either a tablespoon of honey or agave nector. For stuff over two hours I’ll mix in some Bolthouse blueberry juice (blend of other fruit juices in here as well), a tablespoon of flax oil, and a tablespoon of whey protein powder. I gave up using “store-made” potions about 4 years ago and have not missed it. You may wanna buy some of the stuff they serve on your race course (s) and use those in the final couple of weeks leading in, to make sure you can stomach it however.

15

has anyone tried this (Hydro Coco)? I just saw it today. I would put this under the healthy category, i just don’t know if it has enough calories, I just glanced at it, but I love coconut water so it might work for you too. It isn’t the cheapest hydration though

Here is a link

http://bigtreefarms.com/index.php/page/product/72/89/89

16

Have you tried double or triple mixing the scratch labs stuff to get more calls per bottle?

Thanks,
Maurice

17

sorry, didn’t check a few older posts.

they answered my question.

Cheers,
Maurice

18

I don’t have access to much where I live, so started running with coconut juice. Very high in potassium, decent amount of sodium and magnesium as well as 16mg of carbs per 250ml.

I can get Gu Brew and Zero High5, but might just stick with the coconut.

This combined with Gu gels which I can also get hold of.

Thoughts?

19

Ive tried to stomach heed for years. I thought it was so awesome that they gave so much away. Then I realized it didn’t work and it tastes horrible and I still had to add the electrolytes.

What is the thought of the sodium benzoate in efs and nuun? Doesn’t seem good does it?

20

No body mentioned Infint - they will help you come up with your own personal mix with a phone consult.

They can add / delete protien, aminos, vitamins, various sugars, flavors and then ship it to your house
in a big bag for about $30-40.

For our RAAM team, we used 3 mixes + Skratch.
- Standard, ~ 250 cal/ bottle
- Protein - Standard mix with a few grams of Protein
- Nighttime - Standard mix with Caffeine

The Skratch was lower calorie - I think about 100 / bottle, but heavy on electrolytes. It was good on hot days, and also had a lighter flavor than the Infint mix we used.