it seems my lbs has started carrying it and I was thinking of switching to it from my gatorade: I was planning to get the ‘green’ extran can (energy replacement) and add salts on my own (say, using concentrace) in order to be able to mantain the salt replacement properties of gatorade while being also able to control the caloric content.
However the website says that the green extran is glucose, while the package at the lbs says it’s ‘our patented mix of glucose and maltodextrin’, what gives? glucose makes sense (simple, easily assimilable) why have they added the maltodextrin? and does anybody know exactly what % of mdx they are using?
I’m not a chemist, but my understanding is that a lot of products use maltodextrin as an easily digested source of carbs. Alot of the gels and bars use it.
The Extran website is somewhat unclear. The green canister Extran is maltodextrin and in essence high fructose corns syrup. Specifically glucose syrup is a generic name for a syrup to replace cane sugar. Most glucose syrup is comprised of glucose, dextrose and maltose, but it depends on the supplier.
Anyway the sugars such as glucose will burn quickly while the maltodextrin is technically classified as a complex CHO and will therefore be absorbed more slowly. Although in most studies maltodextrin absorbs faster than a non-liquid soluble complex, high GI, CHO like a bowl of corn.
So for our purposes maltodextrin works pretty well, slower than a sugar cube, but faster than a potato or bowl of corn. Although it has been reported that some triathletes prefer ears of corn as it gives them something to shove in their shorts. Whatever floats your boat.
Whatever floats your boat.