Our sports section is broken down discipline by discipline. You’ll find key nutritional considerations for your chosen sport and the products that will help you to achieve your goals. SiS advertise theirgels as isotonic (although I can’t get the percentages to add up – they seem hypertonic). The 50g of energy powder would be isotonic if mixed with 600–750ml of water. It would be hypertonic if mixed with 500ml of water or less (although there’s no salt in it). The 40g electrolyte powder would be isotonic if mixed with 500ml of water.

Out of all the SiS products, the energy bar contains the most fructose; because of the dried fruit pieces it contains. They also contain protein (good for muscle recovery) and fibre. Based on my research, these aren’t ideal during exercise. This is partly due to the fibre, which can be hard to digest and cause an upset stomach. Like the gels, they are a good way of getting large quantities of carbs in a small volume. I think if you wanted some variety from the gels during your ride, there are tons of energy bar recipes online that will be better. There are different types of sugars, depending on their formulation. Glucose is theform used by the body, also referred to as blood sugar, andsold as a supplement called Dextrose. Fructose is the form found in fruit. Then you have sucrose, a disaccharide, made up of a glucose and a fructose molecule bound together. Sucrose is what we know as white table sugar. There are other disaccharides such as lactose,found in milk,and maltose,found in malt and beer. These other formsaren’t as relevant to exercise. The three sugars above are the important ones for this discussion.

UK Delivery

The ‘Team Sky Bundle’ (while it’s half price). This consists of 18 gels, 20 hydro tablets and 500g of rapid recovery powder.

It also contains flavours, stabilisers, gelling agents, acidity regulators, preservatives and colourings As with the carb discussion, I think the type of exercise you’re doing will dictate what ratio you need. SiS are aiming at pro athletes, so hypertonic ratios could be beneficial forsustained, high-intensity exercise. For most of us, isotonic ratios should be more than enough for all but the most strenuous exercise. That’s where hypertonic comes in.They have high concentrations of carbs for an instant energy shot, and to replenish your glycogen stores.If you wanted to include fructose in your energy drink mix for longer rides, you could add sucrose (plain old white sugar) to a maltodextrin mix. This will give you all the fructose you need, along with a bit of glucose — so it’s a win-win. I’ve found it hard to come to the following conclusions. There is conflicting research about almost allthe key points; from the benefit of fructose to the amount of protein one should use. I’ve tried to rationalise the ingredients and ratios in the SiS products based on the research I’ve found.In some cases, this has been difficult. One would assume they know what they’re doing, especially with their links to Team Sky and the GB Olympic team. After all, I’m not a nutritionist or a sports scientist. Hypotonic drinks (the lowest concentrations)replace fluids lost through sweating without replacing much carbohydrate. These can be useful for low-intensity exercise. You might think ‘just drink water’, but there is a risk to drinking too much water without replacing salt and sugar. You’d have to drink a lot of water for this to become a problem, but the potential is there and hypotonic drinks are the solution.