Are you paying up to $5.20 a gel because that is what they hand out on course?

Maurten, Precision Fuel and Hydration and SIS Beta Fuel are the three gels I get asked about more than any others. So I put them side by side and worked out what is actually in the packet, what each one costs you per 100 grams of carbohydrate, and whether that price gap buys you anything at all. No brand has paid me a cent to talk about them. I am Switzerland when it comes to sports nutrition products.

One of these gels costs roughly two thirds more than another for the exact same gram of carbohydrate. Whether that is money well spent comes down to three things most triathletes have never been taught to look for.

WHAT YOU WILL TAKE AWAY

• What is actually inside each gel: carbohydrate, sodium, calories, caffeine and the main ingredients
• What it costs to fuel at 90 grams of carbohydrate an hour on each brand, in both Aussie and US dollars
• What the glucose to fructose ratio means in plain English, and the carbohydrate rate you need to be hitting before it matters to you
• Whether the hydrogel does what the marketing implies it does
• Which gel makes sense for Sprint, Olympic, 70.3 and full distance racing
• How to read a sports nutrition label so you are not at the mercy of whoever has the biggest marketing budget

STUDIES MENTIONED

• Currell, K., & Jeukendrup, A. E. (2008). Superior endurance performance with ingestion of multiple transportable carbohydrates. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 40(2), 275 to 281. [https://doi.org/10.1249/mss.0b013e31815adf19](https://doi.org/10.1249/mss.0b013e31815adf19)
• O’Brien, W. J., & Rowlands, D. S. (2011). Fructose-maltodextrin ratio in a carbohydrate-electrolyte solution differentially affects exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rate, gut comfort, and performance. American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, 300(1), G181 to G189. [https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00419.2010](https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00419.2010)

ALSO MENTIONED

• Episode 47: What is a Hydrogel? Does it improve endurance performance, with Andy King. [Listen here](https://www.dietitianapproved.com/podcast/episode-47)

The exact gel you use is the last 5% of your race nutrition strategy. If you want the other 95%, the Triathlon Nutrition Academy is my nine month education program that teaches you how to fuel your training week, train your gut and build a race plan that is uniquely yours. Doors open again soon, so register your interest at [dietitianapproved.com/academy](https://www.dietitianapproved.com/academy).

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