Maurten GEL 100 review

Maurten first came to my attention with its drink mix which I reviewed before the 2017 Tokyo Marathon.

The Swedish company Maurten, specialise in sports nutrition which tackles the issue of glycogen depletion, and it’s used by many elite runners like Eliud Kipchoge and Sir Mo Farah.

But the products are for everyone from elite athletes to amateurs. I came across them as a lot of the other athletes my Coach John trained had success with them. So I tried these gels during my training block for the 2019 Manchester Marathon, and I had a positive experience with them.

The background:

Each gel has 25g of carbs and as per the letter you are meant to take four gels per hour equating to 100g. Whilst I don’t take four per hour I found that three (75g) worked well for me.

From a technical perspective, traditional gels are water and carbohydrates simply mixed into syrups, often containing added flavors and preservatives. The GEL 100 is completely different, it was designed to take carbohydrates without suffering GI issues. The Swedish inventors, looked to medicine taking inspiration from how some drugs can be absorbed without coming into contact with the stomach lining.

Once you take the gel, and it touches the acid in your stomach, it turns into a hydrogel. This forms an encapsulation around the carbs so they don’t actually come into contact with your stomach lining. This means that it gets into the small intestine quickly and gets straight to work, almost as if the stomach didn’t even really know it was there. Thus reducing GI issues and allowing a high concentration of carbs and salts to be absorbed into the intestines.

Taste wise, it‘s a soft jelly consistency, which is easy to consume without water. It has a very light sweet taste, which I really liked because it’s not a strong taste that can be off putting when your miles deep into a race.

Also this product is vegan.

The verdict:

It was previously believed that 60g of carbs could be consumed per hour during exercise, but research has shown that 90g can be consumed. However that is still a high rate to take during exercise as it can cause GI issues. However the hydrogel technology helps bypass the stomach and move the carbs etc to the intestines, which allows the possibility of a higher carb consumption with reduced risk of GI issues, hence why this product stands out from the rest.

I’ve found that this Maurten 100 works for me for me in training or races, and importantly it hasn’t caused me any GI issues.

To find out more about Maurten drinks and the gel click this link.