DIY enegy drink too sweet

dieselgeezer

I'm trying a 2:1 mix of maltodextrin:fructose using Myprotein products. However, the fructose makes it extremely sweet. Have tried adding lime cordial but that has no effect. Any suggestions?

Many thanks.

sungod

cordial is pretty sweet itself

try lemon juice

buckles

dieselgeezer wrote:

I'm trying a 2:1 mix of maltodextrin:fructose using Myprotein products. However, the fructose makes it extremely sweet. Have tried adding lime cordial but that has no effect. Any suggestions?

Many thanks.

Your ratios may be 2:1 but what are the absolute amounts of powder and liquid that you're using?

Fructose is a really sweet sugar. There is no way of making it less sweet. You can add other types of flavour to try and 'balance' it, but the sweetness will still be there. I use bottles of lemon juice to flavour my drinks but I wouldn't say they're any less sweet.

dieselgeezer

I'm using 50g malto, 25g fructose in 750ml of water, similar to High5 2:1.

doyler78

dieselgeezer wrote:

I'm using 50g malto, 25g fructose in 750ml of water, similar to High5 2:1.

10% is very high and is going to be very sweet and depending on how quickly you actually drink it and if you take plain water in another bottle as well you may well find that your body can't process it effectively and thus leave you more dehydrated as the body draws water internally to try and reduce the concentration.

9% is the max I ever go for and that is only for very intense intervals and I will have some plain water with me as well as I get pretty sick of the taste without it. 6% is my more typical concentration where I use any at all.

buckles

dieselgeezer wrote:

I'm using 50g malto, 25g fructose in 750ml of water, similar to High5 2:1.

No wonder it's too sweet! Try 30 and 15

cyco2

I have never used fructose in and energy drink, either glucose or maltodextrin I have found sufficient and it doesn't taste sweet. I then put lo-salt and orange squash in it to make it isotonic. Interestingly, since using the squash I have never had to steralise the bottle.

team47b

DIY?

to be fair, you did open the two product bags I guess :roll:

johncp

cyco2 wrote:

I have never used fructose in and energy drink, either glucose or maltodextrin I have found sufficient and it doesn't taste sweet. I then put lo-salt and orange squash in it to make it isotonic. Interestingly, since using the squash I have never had to steralise the bottle.

What amounts did you use to make it isotonic?

sloppyschleckonds

team47b wrote:

DIY?

to be fair, you did open the two product bags I guess :roll:

Its a good way to get warmed up to threshold.

dieselgeezer

I've always used a 10% mix, that's what most energy drinks are.
For a 70kg rider, I believe that I can only benefit from 60g of energy powder per hour. However, using a 2:1 mix of malto:fructose allows that to be upped to 90g per hour. That's why High5 was developed. Another way of looking at it is what do High5 put in their 2:1 mix to make it a lot less sweet?

doyler78

dieselgeezer wrote:

I've always used a 10% mix, that's what most energy drinks are.
For a 70kg rider, I believe that I can only benefit from 60g of energy powder per hour. However, using a 2:1 mix of malto:fructose allows that to be upped to 90g per hour. That's why High5 was developed. Another way of looking at it is what do High5 put in their 2:1 mix to make it a lot less sweet?

It says "at up to 90gm per hour". In the ingredients they list Acidulants (Citric Acid and Malic Acid). An acidulant according to this source, as well as acting as a preservative, will sharpen the taste of food so my guess that's it's dual role in this.

http://www.understandingfoodadditives.o ... h2p9-1.htm

Don't forgot that the 90gm per hour will be affected by what other things you ingest. Personally I'd try and lower concentration except on rides where you absolutely know you need it and that's experimentation to see what does and doesn't work for you. When you take that concentration day in day out you will get pretty sickened off it whereas if you use a lower concentration most of the time, which substantially reduces the sweetness, then when you do have to take the higher concentration you can put up with it more easily as you know it's only for that day.

cyco2

Johncp wrote:

cyco2 wrote:

I have never used fructose in and energy drink, either glucose or maltodextrin I have found sufficient and it doesn't taste sweet. I then put lo-salt and orange squash in it to make it isotonic. Interestingly, since using the squash I have never had to steralise the bottle.

What amounts did you use to make it isotonic?

I use half a teaspoon of Lo-salt,about 100ml of squash and 6 heaped tsp of glucose for 750ml. But not acurately because I use various size bottles. Because I drink quite a lot I don't always want the salt for health reasons. I also make my own flapjacks with the sugar content replaced with dextrose. Using a combination of both has had a great effect on my ability to ride hard for far longer.