On Test: 36 Best Sports Nutrition Products
Gels, powders, chews and drinks for before, during and after your run, and for general health
PRE RUN 1. Athletictea Yerba + Ginseng Orange Matcha
£19.99 for 30 servings, athletictea.com This zingy brew, with Japanese matcha green tea and South American yerba maté, delivers a steady energy boost without the jitters of some caffeine drinks. The yerba maté supports your body in burning fat as fuel, great for endurance and weight loss. The ginseng helps to aid focus.
2. Beet It Sport Nitrate 400
£20 for 15 shots (£1.33 per shot), beet-it.com Studies show dietary nitrates – like those in beetroot – can delay fatigue and improve blood flow. These 70ml shots of concentrated beetroot juice, taken in the days before training, deliver a performance-improving 400mg dose of natural nitrate and are so good they’ve been used in over 200 nutritional studies.
3. 33Shake Shake Mocha
£6.99 per shake, 33shake.com Ideal for fuelling morning runs, every shake packs 33 natural ingredients – such as oats, pumpkin protein, maca and Himalayan pink salt – each picked for flavour and nutritional punch. The mix of powders, seeds, nuts and dried berries is more substantial than a powdered shake and there’s a hit of caffeine from coffee in the mocha for a pre-workout charge.
4. Veloforte Pronto
£49.99 for 24 bars (£2.08 per bar), veloforte.cc If there’s a tastier way to top up your pre-run carbs, we’re yet to find it. Made from dried fruits, nuts and natural sweeteners, Veloforte’s real food bars serve up around 45g carbs along with proteins and fibre. There are six varieties but the Pronto’s 80mg hit of caffeine from guarana powder and matcha tea makes it the perfect pre-run snack.
5. Primal Pantry Apple & Pecan
£24 for 18 bars (£1.33 per bar), primalpantry.com These pleasingly simple fruitand-nut combos make great running fodder. There’s 16-20g carbs per bar from natural fruit sugars, mainly dates – the fuel Moroccans swear by to power them through the Marathon des Sables. There are caffeine and protein options; all of them taste great and are easy on the tummy.
HYDRATION 1. Precision Hydration
£9.99 for 8 sachets (£1.25 per serving) precisionhydration.com Before you purchase from Precision Hydration, you fill out a (quick) questionnaire and then receive advice on which of its products to buy to give you a personalised hydration strategy. The range of tabs, hypotonic formula powders and pills can be combined to create a full pre-, during and postrun hydration plan, optimised for the event and conditions.
2. Totum Sport
£18 for 10 sachets (£1.80 per serving), totumsport.co.uk Totum isn’t your average electrolyte. Each easy-open sachet of hypertonic liquid has 78 essential salts and minerals harvested from beneath plankton blooms in nutrient-dense areas of the ocean. Aside from aiding hydration, the makers say they preserve blood glucose levels and delay the switch to anaerobic metabolism – reducing lactate production.
3. Skratch Labs Hydration Mix With Potassium
£26.95 for 20 sachets (£1.35 per serving), skratchlabs.com These 22g stick packs are great for rapid bottle refills and the electrolyte mix of 39mg magnesium, 380mg sodium and 48.3mg potassium matches the ratio of salts lost in sweat. These come in a variety of flavours, with the matcha green tea offering a bonus hit of caffeine.
4. Elete Citrilyte
£26.95 for a 240ml bottle (33p per serving), eletewater.co.uk Just 3ml of this electrolyte spray makes a litre of hydrating fluids. You can also spray it into your mouth for a top-up of essential salts. A handy mini pocket dispenser makes it easier to add it to bottles on the move in training runs.
5. Saltstick Fastchews
£2.99 for 10 chews (60p per serving), saltstick.com Fastchews provide an electrolyte bump in tab form. They dissolve quickly in the mouth and each serving contains 100mg sodium, 30mg potassium, 10mg calcium and 6mg magnesium.
MIDRUN FUEL
£28 for a box of 20 (£1.40 per gel), scienceinsport.com These supply a convenient source of energy (22g carbs) and electrolytes (118mg sodium, 9.5mg potassium and 1.5mg magnesium) in one hit. They won’t replace electrolytes at the same rate as dedicated hydration products, so you may still need to look elsewhere to stay on top of your fluids on longer runs.
2. Powerbar Powergel Shots
£2 per bag (22p per serving), powerbar.eu These liquid-filled jelly sweets have a great texture, with a gooey middle that means less chewing. Each shot contains 5g carbs, ideal for a little-but-often approach to refuelling. To get the kick of an average gel you’ll need to scoff five so it’s a little frustrating that there are only nine in a pack. The orange flavour is zingy without being artificial.
3. SIS Beta Fuel
£2.50 per sachet, scienceinsport.com SIS Beta Fuel has a 2:1 mix of maltodextrin and fructose, along with sodium, to increase the number of carbohydrates the body can process in an hour from 60g to 90g without risking stomach upset. Designed for events of at least 2.5 hours, the ph-neutral isotonic solution is thinner than other sports drinks.
4. Secret Training Stealth
£20 for a box of 14 (£1.40 per gel), secret-training.com These isotonic gels take up a fair bit of space in your gel belt, but the trade-off is that they are scoffable without water. A good fast-acting energy source and the consistency also stops them sitting in the gut too long, reducing the risk of GI woes. They contain 22g of carbs per gel.
5. Maurten Drink Mix 320
£44.80 for 14 sachets (£3.28 per serving), maurten.com This carb powder helped to power Eliud Kipchoge to his stunning marathon world record in Berlin in 2018. With 80g of carbs per 500ml when mixed with water, it offers a huge carb hit. Maurten’s formula turns liquid to gel in the stomach, wrapping the carbs, so they’re steadily absorbed through the intestine without causing the gut problems that can come with some other similar products.
6. Huma Gel
£2.05 per gel, luckyvitamin.com Made from real food, such as chia seeds, fruit puree, cane sugar and brown rice syrup, these taste natural and delicious. The fibre from the chia seeds steadies the energy uptake so there’s no rush and crash. These hit the gut a little harder than some others, so might not work for delicate stomachs. Each contains 25g of carbs.
7. Luchos Dillitos
£14.99 for 10 (£1.49 per serving), luchodillitos.com Based on the bocadillos (a kind of traditional snack) used by Colombian cyclists, each block of solidified guava ‘jam’ comes wrapped in a natural leaf and delivers a gel-sized 22.5g hit of carbs. If they’re not well wrapped these can dissolve, but they taste great and melt quickly in the mouth, which is a welcome change of pace from the usual syrupy gels.
8. Clif Shot Bloks Caffeine
£34.44 for an 18-pack box (32p per block), clifbar.co.uk With 8g carbs per chunk you’d need to chew through loads of these to power a full marathon. However, stashing a few caffeinated Bloks in your running belt for the second half of a race works well. You can eat them without water – though they are quite chewy – and while the caffeine hit is strong it won’t bother your stomach.
9. UCAN
£3.50 per serving, generationucan.co.uk The sucrose, fructose and maltodextrin in most gels and sports drinks breaks down rapidly but they can burn up fast. UCAN’S Superstarch complex carb works differently. Its larger molecules pass through the stomach and are digested more slowly in the intestines. This timereleased energy supply stops spikes and crashes and encourages fat burn.
10. Spring Energy Gels
£24.45 for a box of 12 (£2.03 per gel), myspringenergy.eu These maltodextrin-free gels mix ingredients such as rice, chia seeds, honey and molasses with fruit, sea salt and even peanut butter to create a range of all-natural fuel options. Each compact 45g rip-top tube supplies 15-20g carbs and each 12-pack includes options such as Hill Aid, Caneberry and Power Rush.
11. Torq Gel
£24 for a box of 15 (£1.60 per gel), torqfitness.co.uk Torq’s 2:1 blend of glucose and fructose – with a small bump of electrolytes – delivers energy faster than single-carb gels. The jazzy flavours (eg orange and banana, and cherry bakewell) are easy to swallow and pleasant by gel standards. The compact, easy-open tubes are a dream to use on the move. Want a caffeine boost? Choose the guarana option.
12. Vespa CV-25
£55 for 12 (£4.58 per serving), athlete4d.com Vespa is designed to unleash your body’s fat stores as an energy source. The magic ingredient is 100mg peptide extract taken from wasps that use it to fly hundreds of miles on fat stores alone. There’s no rush of energy; the idea is that you have a sustained feeling of gas in the tank.
13. Caffeinebullet
£9.99 for 16 sweets (62p per sweet), caffeinebullet.com If you’re looking for a mighty caffeine kick, these chews pack 100mg per sweet. They have a fresh minty taste at first that’s replaced by the caffeine bitterness at the end. Some may find the aftertaste a bit strong, but it’s nothing a sip of water doesn’t shift. They contain 6.1g carbs per sweet.
14. GU Roctane Gel
£66 for a box of 24 (£2.75 per gel), guenergy.co.uk Another dual-fuel gel boasting an improved energy hit, GU’S Roctane contains 19g of carbs as well as 1.2g of amino acids and 35mg of caffeine for extra performance and recovery benefits. They’re far less sweet than a standard GU and worked best on longer runs, helping to reduce muscle soreness afterwards.
15. High5 Energy Gel Aqua
£25 for 20 (£1.25 per gel), highfive.co.uk If you find gloopy gels hard to swallow and stomach, these extra-water formula High5 Aquas are worth a try. More liquid than gel, the 66g tubes can be downed without water. Their taste and texture is fresher and less sticky but don’t expect a huge rush of energy, either. This is more of a pat on the back than a boot up the bum.
RECOVERY 1. Optimum Nutrition Amino Energy
£19.99 for 30 servings (66p per serving) optimumnutriton.com Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAS) are crucial for rebuilding muscles post-training, but your body can’t produce them naturally. Drinking Amino Energy with 2g of BCAA before a session is one way to boost the numbers and aid effective recovery.
2. Turmeric Co. Shots
£21 for a box of 6 (£3.50 per shot), theturmeric.co Lauded for its general benefits, turmeric root has specific advantages for runners. It’s loaded with curcumin, an antioxidant that helps limit muscle damage and reduces muscle soreness. These shots contain 5g of turmeric root – and a mighty hit of curcumin – plus piperine, which helps you retain more of those curcuminoids.
3. Curranz
£21.75 for 30 capsules (72p per serving), curranz.com These all-natural fruit extract pills are crammed with anthocyanins. They can help improve your performance by increasing blood flow and oxygen uptake during exercise, support fat-burning metabolism, reduce fatigue and may aid lactate clearance. All the good stuff runners need.
4. Wild Nutrition Pure Strength Omega-3
£30 for 120 capsules (£1 per serving), wildnutrition.com Eating more Omega-3 fatty acids – EPA, DHA and ALA – improves endurance, reduces inflammation and boosts immunity. These neutral-tasting capsules contain 800mg of EPA and 400mg of DHA (your RDA is a minimum of 250mg of both). No fish burps, either.
5. Natures Aid Cherry Xtra
£9.45 for 30 capsules (62p per serving), naturesaid.co.uk Studies found that runners who took a 480mg dose of of freeze-dried tart cherry powder before and after a half marathon showed reduced markers of muscle damage, inflammation and less muscle soreness. With 500mg of Montmerency cherry powder per capsule, Cherry Xtra is a great way to get that same recovery kick.
6. Betteryou Magnesium Oil Recovery Spray
£12.20 per 100ml bottle (20p per use), betteryou.com Magnesium supports oxygen uptake, energy production and electrolyte balance. A minor deficiency can hamper performance and recovery. Sprayed on tired legs, transdermal (through the skin) magnesium absorbs better than oral supplements and is an easy way to top up your stocks, aid recovery and promote sleep.