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Comparison of Energy Gels

11,070 bytes added, 14:14, 14 October 2016
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[[File:Gels.JPG|right|thumb|300px|My supply of gels]]
Energy gels are a useful component of many endurance runners' training and racing. In marathon distance racing, energy gels can make an important difference [[When to eat Energy Gels in the Marathon| if you know how and when to eat them]]. If you want a really simple guide to which gel to take, try this:
* For short runs (<13miles/2hr) donyou shouldn't worry about gelsgenerally need any fuel. The main reason for using a gel on a run this short would be if you're particularly hungry before you start running.* For long runs (>30miles/4hours) you probably need more than gels. People vary, but most runners seem to find that gels become unappealing and sometimes nauseating over a protracted time. I suspect this might be because they are so easily absorbed they don't give your digestive system anything much to work on. They also typically only provide a simple fast acting carbohydrates and over a longer time. You need a greater variety.
* [[Caffeine]] is your friend, so unless you're running close to bed time, use it.
* Gu is a great The best all round gelI've found is still Gu, and you could think of it as the Honda civic of energy gels. For most runners this is an ideal starting point.* If you're a competitive marathon runner looking for every edge, then I think it's worth a little extra to buy the Gu Roctane version is slightly better.
* For those suffering from cramps, try eGel (the sour flavor might help.)
* If you want more electrolytes, try PowerBar Gel.
* Hammer gel is a little easier to digest than Gu, so try that if you're having digestive problems.
=Which Gel? =
The flowchart below is intended to provide some general guidance around which gel to choose.
# As well as Hammer gel, consider Carb BOOM or SIS Isotonic gels.
# See [[How to eat a Gel]] for details.
==DIY Gels==
It is fairly easy to mix up your own gel, and this allows you to tweak the ingredients to your liking. You can have specific flavors, different concentrations, unusual ingredients like Choline, etc., which is not possible with a commercial gel. If you're intending to use a flask instead of packets, then the DIY approach is well worth considering, but I've found it tough to recreate the commercial packaging at home. [http://theplantedrunner.com/copycat-gu-gels/ The Planted Runner uses a modified FoodSaver bag] and includes a recipe. This is probably a much better approach than trying Ziploc bags.
=Gel Ingredients=
Here is an overview of the major ingredients in gels (see [[The Science of Energy Gels| The Science of Energy Gels]] for more details).
=VFuel=
[http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=vfuel VFuel Gels] have no [[Fructose]], so it's ideal for those that suffer from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose_malabsorption fructose malabsorption]. It has a little fat in the form of [[MCT| Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT)]], as well as some Taurine, which I think are good things, but probably the amount is not significant enough to make much of a difference. Note that MCT can cause serious digestive problems, but probably not at these levels. There is a little [[Caffeine]], intended to increase the carbohydrate absorption rather than to improve performance. I found the VFuel very easy on the stomach and a worthy alternative to Hammer Gel. (Note VFuel was previously called Vi Endurance.)
[[File:Gels-Vi-Fuel.JPG|none|thumb|500px|ViFuel(with a Gu as a size reference)]]
''<br/>Ingredients (Vanilla): [[Maltodextrin]], water, dextrose, VFuel Endurance Formula (MCT Oil, Taurine, Glucuronolactone, ornithine alpha-ketoglutarate (OKG), citrulline malate, [[Magnesium]] aspartate, sodium citrate, [[Potassium|potassium]] aspartate), pure vanilla flavor, [[Potassium|potassium]] sorbate, sea salt, [[Caffeine]]''
[[File:Gels-Vooma.JPG|none|thumb|500px|USN Vooma (with a Gu as a size reference)]]
''<br/>Ingredients (Vanilla Caramel): Water, Maltodextrin, Dextrose, Sucrose, Acidity regulators (Sodium Citrate E331i; Potassium citrate E332i), Creatine Monohydrate, Ascorbic Acid, L-Carnitine, Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs)(L-Leucine, L-Valine, L-Isoleucine), Acidulant (Citric Acid), Sodium Chloride, Flavoring, Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Glutamic Acid, Thickener (Xanthan Gum).`''
=EFS Liquid Shot=
The most unusual thing about EFS is that it comes in a small plastic flask that holds the equivalent of about four normal gel packs. I rather like the idea of a small flask as you can take as much or as little as you feel like, something that's a bit trickier with a foil package to gel. Flask is also reusable which is nice, but I found it a little larger than I would like. While it sits very nicely in my hand, I wouldn't want to hold it for any significant distance, and it's a bit too heavy to put into running shorts. EFS make some impressive claims for their gel, but on closer inspection they become far less impressive:
* No "gelling agents, which slow down absorption and digestion." This sounds really good, until I realized that none of the gels contain any type of "gelling agent." Energy gels are the viscosity they are due to the quantity of carbohydrate, effectively making a thick paste.
* Contains "400 calories." This is a little misleading, as the EFS is the equivalent in size, weight, and cost to consuming for standard gels. If you compare like-four-like and look at a quarter of a flask, then the EFS has a reasonably standard hundred calories.
* A "supercharged endurance formula." I'd argue that EFS is a rather pedestrian and sub optimal blend of carbohydrates. It's half simple sugars, as a blend of dextrose and table sugar, and half ''[[Maltodextrin]]''. These simple sugars mean you needed to consume rather more water to make EFS isotonic than the better quality gels like Gu.
* "Over 1500mg electrolytes (so you don't need to bother taking extra electrolyte pills)." If he can normalize it down to a standard gels serving, then EFS contains 100mg of sodium, which is a little better than some energy gels, but far from ideal when you consider the amount of fluid that has to be consumed to make it isotonic. I estimate you need to take over 300mL/10oz of water with a quarter of an EFS flask. That's a little less sodium than you'd get from simply drinking the same quantity of Gatorade which is itself a pretty crappy source of electrolytes. For context, [[The Science Of Hydration]] suggests that a non-heat acclimated runner that is sweating heavily could lose over 5,000mg of sodium/hour.
* "1000mg of amino acids." There is some evidence that amino acids may improve endurance, but normalizing down to the standard gel, EFS only provides 250mg of amino acids, rather less and something like Gu Roctane.
* It's a "liquid?" I expected EFS Liquid Short to be a liquid, not a gel, so I was surprised that it was only a little thinner than most other gels. It's not quite as thick as a Gu, but it's far thicker than USN Vooma Energy, SIS Isotonic, Island Boost, or High5 EnergyGel. Personally, I rather like this consistency, but the "liquid" in the name is distinctly misleading.
Overall, I found EFS to be an adequate, if not particularly great energy gel. If you like the idea of the small flask, then you could either refill the EFS flask with a better quality gel or purchase something like the [http://www.amazon.com/FuelBelt-Single-6-Ounce-Gel-Flask/dp/B000JTJKMQ Fuel Belt Gel Flask] which I've used in the past.
[[File:EFSLiquidShot.JPG|none|thumb|500px|EFS Liquid Shot (with a Gu as a size reference)]]
''<br/>Ingredients: Complex carbohydrates, Dextrose, Sucrose, Water, Amino Acid Blend (L-Glutamine, Leucine, Iso-Leucine, Valine), Salt, Potassium Chloride, Calcium (as calcium complex), Magnesium (as magnesium glycine amino acid chelate), natural flavors, citric acid, sorbic acid and sodium benzoate (to preserve freshness)''
=PowerBar Gel=
[http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=PowerBar+Gel&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3APowerBar+Gel PowerBar Gel] is noteworthy because of its higher sodium content that may help alleviate [[Hyponatremia]] and [[Cramps]]. I found the flavor stronger than Hammer, Gu or Cliff, but still quite pleasant. The flavors are generally rather more candy like than fruit like. The level of [[Fructose]] is higher than I'd like to see for digestibility. You may need to drink some water near the time you take PowerBar Gel due to the extra electrolytes. PowerBar Gel has a noticeably thinner consistency than most other gels, and is almost a liquid. This makes it far easier to take in cold weather as it does not go so thick, but it also make it trickier to mix with saliva in your mouth. (Note that the chocolate flavor has 1.5g of fat.)
[[File:Gels-Honey-Stinger.JPG|none|thumb|500px|Honey Stinger (with a Gu as a size reference)]]
''<br/>Ingredients (Gold flavor): Honey, Water, [[Potassium]] Citrate, Salt, Natural Flavors, Vitamins & Minerals, Niacinamide (Vit B3), Calcium Pantothenate (Vit B5), Pyridoxine, Hydrochloride (Vit B6), Riboflavin (Vit B2), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vit B1), Cyanocobalamin (Vit B12)''
=Zipvit ZV7/ZV7c=ZV7 is a larger gel, and as you can see from the picture below, it's about twice the size of a Gu. I much prefer the smaller size of the Gu (and similar gels) as it gives me the freedom of taking one or two gels as needed. The flavors of ZV7 seem enticing, but in practice I found they did not live up to the promise. The flavors I tried ended up being overly sweet, but the flavoring was a little thin. There's also a lot of sugar in ZV7, which makes it harder to digest than the better Gels. In fact, my estimate is that you'd need to take about a pint (half liter) of water with a packet of ZV7 to make it isotonic. The caffeinated versions are called "ZV7c".
[[File:Gels-ZVZ7.JPG|none|thumb|500px|Zipvit ZV7 (with a Gu as a size reference)]]
''<br/br>Ingredients: Water, Maltodextrin, Sucrose, Glucose Syrup, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Chloride.''
=#9 Chocolate=
The only ingredients in this [http://www.rei.com/product/815338/chocolate-9-energy-gel #9] are Agave and Cocoa, and Agave is predominantly [[Fructose]] (55% [[Fructose]] to 20% glucose). This amount of [[Fructose]] is slow to be absorbed and can be difficult to digest, making it a poor choice for most runners. The Agave makes this gel intensely sweet, which I did not like and the '[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_process_chocolate processed with alkali]' means that most of the antioxidants from the chocolate are destroyed. This is also by far the thickest gel that I've tested so far, being more like a paste than a gel. This gel may be suitable for runners that suffer from a blood sugar drop after taking more conventional gels prior to exercise (see [[The Science of Energy Gels| The Science of Energy Gels]] for more details).
''<br/>Ingredients: organic agave nectar, cocoa processed with alkali''
=Glukos=
Glukos is the "OFFICIAL ENERGY GEL & of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series", which (given the reputation of those marathons) could be considered a warning label. Like the races, the energy gel has lots of hype with a little to back it up. Glukos uses glucose as its only source of carbohydrate, which makes it rather harder to digest than a Maltodextrin/[[Fructose]] based gel. As a result, you need 280ml/9.5oz of water to make a packet isotonic, which doesn't seem too bad when compared with other gels until you realize that Glukos only provides 60 calories per packet. When you normalize the amount of water you need to make a gel isotonic based on 100 calories then Glukos can be seen to be one of the least effective energy gels I've tested. Because Glukos is a liquid, it's practically impossible to mix it with saliva as you consume it, compounding the digestion problems. It also weighs more than twice as much as a traditional gel like Gu, which means the energy density of Gu is nearly 4x that of Glukos. There is a woefully inadequate amount of sodium, and they've added coloring which seems rather pointless in a gel. Glukos claims that it is two times faster and has two times the energy, but you have to dig a little to find out what they're comparing it to. It turns out that they are claiming that Glukos is two times faster than sucrose (table sugar), which is reasonably true but rather irrelevant given that I'm not aware of any energy gel that is made predominantly from sucrose. The nearest you'd find is honey based gels as honey contains a mixture of fructose and glucose that's similar to sucrose. It's a little ironic that a gel containing roughly half the energy of standard gels would claim to have twice as much. The other part of the claim (2x faster) is far more dubious as sucrose and glucose have the same energy density. Their FAQ states "you don't lose energy to the processes of digestion or metabolization like other fuel sources", but I've never seen anything to suggest that the metabolism of fructose takes a significant amount of energy, let alone a factor of two. Glukos also claims things like gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, but that's true of virtually every gel on the market. The only good news is that the flavor is reasonably light, which is what you'd expect given that glucose is not as sweet as sucrose or fructose. It's rather like having a very small packet of Gatorade drink, which is no bad thing flavor wise.
[[File:Glukos.jpg|none|thumb|500px|Glukos Gel, looking rather large compared with my reference standard, Gu.]]
''<br/>Ingredients: Water, Glucose, Citric Acid, Potassium Citrate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Sea Salt, Natural Flavors, Purple Carrot Root (for color)''
=Mud Energy Gel=
There are some unusual ingredients in Mud Energy Gel, including rather more protein than any other energy gel. The form of the protein is also a little strange, which is from Collagen, whey protein and brown rice protein. While whey protein is common in sports foods, collagen is rather unusual, and brown rice protein seems an even stranger choice. The gel includes [http://sustamine.com/ Sustamine], a combination two amino acids to form L-Alanyl-L-Glutamine. There are some bold claims for Sustamine, but I couldn't find the research to back it up. The inclusion of Brown Rice syrup can create a bitter aftertaste, as well as possible contamination with [http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/23/147294466/in-rice-how-much-arsenic-is-too-much arsenic]. This gel is also rather large, coming in at about twice the size of a Gu or other gel, but it's only got about 50% more calories, making it too large for runners. Overall, the digestibility of Mud Energy Gel is a little poor, but I found the flavor to be a bigger problem. I realize that flavor is a personal thing, so I tried a sample of Mud on several people and it was met with universal distaste, and some people even thought I was playing a prank on them. The only thing I've found that has a similar flavor has been some "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salty_liquorice salty licorice]". However, it's been noted that salty licorice is an acquired taste, and that people not familiar with it may find the taste "physically overwhelming and unlikeable." So maybe with more exposure, the flavor becomes better.
This is an unusual gel because it contains [[Beetroot and Running Performance |Beetroot Juice]], which may improve performance. This is a cool idea, especially for longer events where a boost in Nitrate levels might be helpful. However, even though I love the taste of beetroot as a vegetable, I find the taste of the gel to be a little nauseating and I've been unable to consume an entire packet. However, if you can cope with the flavor, then this is well worth considering.
[[File:Gels-ZV7N.JPG|none|thumb|500px|ZV7N (with a Gu as a size reference)]]
''<br/br>Ingredients: Water, Beetroot Juice Concentrate, Maltodextrin, Sucrose, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor.''
=Other 'energy gels'=
While these products look rather like energy gels, they don't meet my criteria for inclusion but are worth mentioning.
==PocketFuel==
Unlike energy gels, [http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=PocketFuel&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3APocketFuel PocketFuel] is a peanut butter like paste in an energy gel like packet. They are similar a little larger than most other gels (about 1.8oz/52g) but have far more calories (~280) due to their higher fat content. (Be careful of the nutrition label, which quotes values for a 32 gram serving, even though the packet contains 52g. The label says each packet contains "about 2" servings, but is actually 1.6 servings.) I've added a table below of the nutrition from an entire packet. I would not generally recommend PocketFuel for runs shorter than about 40 miles, but for longer races they make a convenient form of food. As you can see from the table below, there is a mix of fat and carbohydrate that I think is excellent for ultrarunning. I'm also really happy to see 5 g of fiber, something you might really, really appreciate the day after an ultramarathon! It's a shame there's not a little more salt, but that's my only quibble with the nutrition. Note that for some flavors the ingredients tend to settle and it's worth squishing the packet before your run to mix things up.
[[File:Gels-Pocket-Fuel.JPG|none|thumb|500px|Pocket Fuel (with a Gu as a size reference)]]
{| class="wikitable"
! Nutrient
! Quantity
|-
| Calories
| 276Cal
|-
| Fat
| 20g
|-
| Sodium
| 42mg
|-
| Potassium
| 312mg
|-
| Carbs
| 23g
|-
| Fiber
| 5g
|-
| Sugar
| 16g
|-
| Protein
| 7g
|}
''<br/>Ingredients (chocolate haze):Hazelnuts, almonds, sugar, cocoa powder, sunflower oil, organic palm fruit oil, sea salt.''
==Vega Sports Gels==
I put [https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Vega+Sports+Gels Vega Gels] under "other energy gels" because I consider them more as "portable food" than a typical energy gel. The main ingredient in Vega Gels is dates, and I've always loved the taste of dates, so I was surprised when I found the taste rather unpleasant. There is a distinct taste (and texture) of dates but there is also a sharp, tangy, slightly bitter taste as well. Of course, people's tastes are quite different so you might get on much better with Vega Gels than I did. There is a slight concern that the "rice dextrins" might contain arsenic, and while arsenic is completely natural, it's also a toxin. The good news with Vega Gels is that each packet contains 2g of fiber, which I think is well worthwhile. It's less than you get in a packet of PocketFuel, but the Vega Gels are much easier to eat quickly, and on a per calorie basis contain roughly the same amount of fiber. I was expecting rather more complex carbs from a gel made of dates, but it's mostly sugars. This puts Vega Gels in a slightly strange "no man's land" as it's likely to be too difficult to digest to be considered an energy gel in the typical sense of the term, but being almost pure sugar it's a little bit closer to junk food than PocketFuel. Vega Gels has 70% of your daily intake of vitamin C (~42mg), which might be part of the bitter taste and detecting, and if you take lots of these gels you might find in the vitamin C upsets your stomach. I'd avoid using Vega if you're running less than 40 miles, but for ultramarathons it might be worth considering, though I think peanut butter Gu is probably a better choice. The PB Gu is likely to be easier to digest and easier on the digestive system, though if you want something that's "portable food", then check out PocketFuel above. (Update: Vega [[:File:VegaTweats.jpg| responded via Twitter to the concerns around Arsenic]], but their response did not fill me with confidence. As a result of their responses I threw my remaining Vega gels away.)
''<br/>Ingredients (orange): Dates, filtered water, EnergySource (grape juice, natural rice dextrins), sorghum malt, electrolyte blend (calcium, vitamin C, chloride, phosphorous, magnesium, sodium, potassium, zinc, copper, selenium, chromium), coconut oil, citric acid, natural orange flavor''
{| class="wikitable"
! Nutrient
! Quantity
|-
| Calories
| 100Cal
|-
| Fat
| 1g
|-
| Sodium
| 60mg
|-
| Potassium
| 400mg
|-
| Carbs
| 22g
|-
| Fiber
| 2g
|-
| Sugar
| 17g
|-
| Protein
| 0.5g
|}
[[File:Vega Sport.jpg|none|thumb|500px|Pocket Fuel (with a Gu as a size reference)]]
==PowerBar Performance Energy Blend==
[http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=PowerBar+Performance+Energy+Blend+ PowerBar Performance Energy Blend] (PEB) almost made it into my list of gels. It looks like a large energy gel, with a re-closable a screw top. It's actually about three times the size and weight of a standard gel like Gu, even though it contains less calories (80 Cal). The reason for the low energy density is that it's a mixture of fruit puree and glucose. If you've ever eaten apple puree, you'll know what PEB is like. I found PEB to quite pleasant, but the size and lack of calories means it's impractical to carry enough while running.

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