Maltodextrin for endurance athletes

by James Eacott

Maltodextrin for endurance athletes

Maltodextrin is the most common ingredient in sports nutrition, particularly in products for endurance athletes. But endurance athletes should avoid maltodextrin as it's a manmade, processed sugar that damages health and performance:

Maltodextrin has a higher Glycemic Index (GI) than table sugar so delivers an instant energy spike, followed by an equally sudden energy crash
So while endurance athletes need reliable stable energy, maltodextrin delivers the opposite
It is one of the cheapest sweeteners around, and is most commonly found in junk food, sodas, chips and candy
Maltodextrin is not just an empty calorie, it is actually nutrient negative - the body uses more nutrients processing maltodextrin than are delivered by consuming it
Maltodextrin opens a huge (legal) labeling loophole for product manufacturers because despite being a sugar, it is classified on nutrition labels in the carbohydrates section, not the sugars section
This means products full of maltodextrin (sugar), can legally show zero sugars on their nutritional labels appearing to be sugar-free when in fact being the opposite

Many nutritionists recommend maltodextrin for endurance athletes, but these recommendations are based on very outdated research.

In this video, 33Fuel co-founder Warren talks with performance coach George Anderson and they discuss exactly what maltodextrin is, why it's become so ubiquitous in sports nutrition, how it does athletes more harm than good and why 33Fuel will never use maltodextrin in any product.

If you’re an athlete who cares about your nutrition, particularly if you're an endurance athlete where long-distance fueling really matters, you'll enjoy this one and so will your health and performance!