ENERGY GELS, GUs, GOOs

A staple in the endurance sports community, energy gels are packets of "food" ranging from 18-60 g formulated  to be on-the-go fuel sources. They are designed to deliver high doses of carbohydrate and calories in a dense format. Traditionally they are honey-like in texture as they contain simple sugars: glucose, fructose, things get fancy at maltodextrin. More recently the addition of polysaccharides (branched polymer chains) have shaken up the gels market with modification of texture, carbohydrate release and therefore availability. These polysaccharides are materials I have commonly used in my tissue engineering research over the last 10 years and switch the texture to something a lot more like a soft jelly (jello for my North American readers, not to be confused with jam).

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Stay tuned for a data drop on some of the hottest products on the market.