As we've all known for a long time, carbohydrates improve performance during longer endurance activities. Staying hydrated can help prevent severe dehydration and also contributes to performance. But is it best to drink sports drinks, gels or bars, bananas, or other carbohydrate sources? When competing, athletes seem to make different decisions and we see some athletes competing on just drinks, but also athletes consuming a full arsenal of energy supplements. What is better now? To answer this question, some studies were conducted at the University of Birmingham.

The studies were part of Beate Pfeiffer's doctoral thesis. In the first study, she compared taking a sports drink to taking a gel containing the same amount of carbohydrates plus water. The cyclist rode at moderate intensity for two hours and consumed 1 gel per hour (with a maltodextrin-fructose composition of 2:1) with 200 ml of water or carbohydrate drink. In both trials, the cyclists received the same amount of carbohydrates. Average carbohydrate intake was high: 1.8 g/min and fluid intake added to that. The study showed that exogenous carbohydrate oxidation (how much of the ingested carbohydrate was used) was the same for the two trials and it is clear that there were no physiologically meaningful differences between the two forms of carbohydrate intake. This is not surprising, because in one case the carbohydrates are mixed with water in a bottle, in the other case the carbohydrate gel is ingested and mixed with water in the stomach. The carbohydrate concentrations are the same and this means that the carbohydrate intake is likely to be very similar.

Bottom line, it doesn't matter if the carb comes as a sports drink or as a gel with water. A note of warning: if the gel is taken without water, the stomach contents become highly concentrated, which slows gastric emptying and is also more likely to lead to gastrointestinal problems.

In the second study conducted, an energy bar was compared to a carbohydrate drink. The design of the study was very similar: cyclists again rode for two hours and this time received a carbohydrate drink or energy bar plus water. The total amount of carbohydrates ingested and the total amount of liquid ingested were identical in both experiments. The bar used in this study was a commonly available energy bar that was high in carbohydrates but low in protein, fat, and fiber. Again, the difference between the solid food plus water and the carbohydrate drink is small and not statistically significant. Carb consumption from the bar appeared to be slightly less, but the difference is small. It is very likely that this is because this particular bar was very low in fat, protein and fiber. A bar with more fat, protein, and fiber is likely to slow gastric emptying and decrease carbohydrate intake.

The results of these two studies show that the form in which carbohydrates are consumed does not play a major role in the oxidation of carbohydrates. In other words, as an athlete, you can mix and match and use gels, bars, or a sports drink or whatever you prefer to get your carbs. With regard to hydration, which was not tested in this particular study, one would expect hydration to be slightly compromised with solid foods compared to liquid foods.

This allows athletes to mix and match and use the source that best suits their preferences. Some athletes prefer to just drink fluids, others really need to eat to survive longer races. For some athletes, gels are a convenient way to ingest carbohydrates, but not everyone is a fan of them. So choose the carbohydrate source that works best for you. Determine the goal and plan your race nutrition accordingly!

At La Primafit we offer you all kinds of carbohydrates – gels, isotonics, energy bars, chew bars, etc. Only with us you can get the products used by the best Pro Tour teams, such as Jumbo Visma, Soudal Quick-Step, EF Education EasyPost, Bahrain Victorious, Israel Premier-Tech etc.