Perpetuem vs. Accelerade: Why is this happening?

Triathlon Forum
1

Experts: Please help me figure this one out.

I have been a long time Accelerade user, and am a long course guy. I have always liked Accelerade, but it has a lot of Cholesterol and sugar, so a friend convinced me to try Perpetuem. I can not drink Gatorade Endurance, the body revolts.

So I have had 2 long runs and rides with Perpetuem, and generally I really like it. Its easy on the GI system, and feels like good energy and recovery. It tastes kind of medicinal, but not too bad. I need to try the Orange-Vanilla flavor I think.

The only thing is: it makes me piss like a race horse during workouts! Seriously, I must have peed 5-6 times on my 110 mile ride yesterday. This never happened with Accelerade. Why? I have the concentrations per bottle correct, so this baffles me. And, when I went to transition to running yesterday I peed in the toilet to see the color, it was CRYSTAL CLEAR! How rare is that? Also, I could not drink my usual bottle per hour, drinkning Pepetuem yielded about an hour a half per bottle.

So what up with this stuff? I know everyone is different, but any insights or similar experiences would be helpful.

Thanks!

TT

2

No expert here but I’ve used both interchangeably and have not had this issue at all. Have noticed that Accelerade gives me gas but that’s the extent of it. Had very positive experience with Perpetuem in both HIM and IMs and also added CarboPro to it for the extra calories.

3

Odd. Used them both, no similar symptoms. Prefer Perpetuem- a true long distance fuel. Have you also tried Sustained Energy? Similar product from same guys but maybe no side effect…

4

TT,

Whenever I do an analysis of a nutritional strategy, the 1st thing I look for is what I call *red flags or anything that stands out. *Often it’s a relatively easy fix as we identify this *red flag, *make the correction & the issue is resolved. Other times, we need to dig into greater detail to determine how best to correct the issue.

As such, lets look at your current strategy & switch from Accelerade to Perpetuem to see what the potential red flag may be. I’m going to make the following assumptions for this example (using roughly equivalent caloric amounts of Accelerade & Perpetuem on a 3hr ride):

PERPETUEM
**CAL: **715 (238 per hr)
**CHO: **148g
**Sugar: **19g
**PRO: **16.5g
**Sodium: **635mg (212mg per hr)
**Potassium: **429mg
**Magnesium: **30mg

Accelerade
**CAL: **720 (240 per hr)
**CHO: **126g
**Sugar: **120g
**PRO: **30g
**Sodium: **1140mg (380mg per hr)
**Potassium: **390mg
**Magnesium: **799mg

Looking at the above & the issues you’ve had w/ what could be characterized as an excessive urination, my initial speculative guess would be this *could *be caused by the significant difference in electrolytes between the (2) products. The only other variable which could be deemed significant between these (2) powders is the sugar content which wouldn’t have any impact on your urination rate…unless of course this was having an impact on the amount of fluid you were absorbing, but I doubt that to be the case.

If we look at the (3) primary electrolytes (sodium, potassium & magnesium), during this hypothetical 3hr ride, you’re looking at a total intake of:

Perpetuem: 1094mg
**Accelerade: **2329mg

So, when switching from Accelerade to Perpetuem, you consumed 55% less electrolytes, assuming a similar calorie intake. Is this the reason you peed 5-6x? Maybe.

Whether it be training or nutrition, it’s always a process of trial & error as what works for one athlete often doesn’t work for another. With that, in the above example, you’d be looking at just over a 200mg /hr intake of sodium which I would characterize as EXTREMELY low. Even in the Accelerade example, 380mg /hr would be considered low, but much closer to what I consider a borderline acceptable range.

So…what does all this mean?

If I were you & you’re set on using the Perpetuem, I’d strongly suggest simply bumping up the electorlyte content on the next go-around & see what the impact is. If on subsequent rides (notice I say rideS as you never want to use a single ride/run as a benchmark), you increase your intake to the 500mg /hr mark (for example) and the frequent urination is decreased, problem solved.

Anyway, I hope that helps to potentially resolve this strategy, but please drop me a line if I can offer any additional assistance.

5

Brian,

Thank for you for the VERY detailed reply. Much appreciated.

I did neglect to say that on every ride (or run) I consume either a GU or a PowerBar per hour. Never a problem with this. Just the amazing amount of peeing when drinking Perpetuem!

Anyone else?

TT

6

I have the same problem. The answer might be very simple - Perpetuem contains soy - soy irritates the lining of the bladder and in a lot of people can cause increased urination. I have the same exact problem - if I drink soy milk or Perpetuem it makes me piss like a race horse, but I still swear by Perpetuem and just pee off the bike when I race. A lot of people don’t know that soy can irritate the crap out of your bladder. Probably the best way to check this aside from seeing a doctor would be to drink soy milk and see how that affects you.

There is a condition called interstitial cystitis, which basically means having a more irritable bladder than most people. Soy is one of the big things they list to avoid because it’s a major bladder irritant, just like coffee (which actually makes you pee more due to the acidity than the caffeine content).

7

interesting

i am considering the switch from accelerade and was looking at perpetuem
im curious to try this and see what happens

i consume alot of soy as i am a vegetarian and have no problem with tofu or soymilk
.

8

Very interesting. As a guy, I rarely drink/eat anything soy related. But my wife does, so I will try some of her soy milk and see what happens.

I do like Perpetuem, but I cant pee this much during an IM! I will float away! :slight_smile:

TT

9

I must admit I’ve not heard of Soy being a bladder irritant. I’m a long time satisfied Perp user. Perhaps your body would be happier with Infinit (uses Whey instead of Soy).

10

I must admit I’ve not heard of Soy being a bladder irritant. I’m a long time satisfied Perp user. Perhaps your body would be happier with Infinit (uses Whey instead of Soy).

I hadn’t heard of it either until my doc told me! But just Google “bladder +irritant +soy” and you’ll see a ton of stuff on it. I was very surprised by it myself. I am not saying that’s what the OP’s problem is but it very well could be since most people have no idea that soy is a bladder irritant.