Sports drinks represent a growing market and are playing an increasingly important role. Today’s athletes are eager to learn more about the different types of drinks that can help improve their fuel utilisation and overall performance. To supplement their tough training regime, they are seeking sports drinks that give them the energy to go even further in their sport.
Most popular sports drinks contain high glycaemic carbohydrates like maltodextrin, glucose syrup and sucrose that are quickly absorbed. This leads to a dramatic increase in blood glucose levels over a short period of time, with a subsequent fall as steeply and quickly. Glucose is released into the bloodstream at a fast rate to maximise carbohydrate utilisation, but the valuable contribution of fat utilisation is suppressed during exercise.
‘Slow release’ carbohydrates such as Palatinose (isomaltulose), which deliver a balanced release of glucose over a longer period of time, are an interesting alternative. Based on science, Palatinose has been shown to have a sustained effect on normal blood glucose levels compared to other fully digestible carbohydrates.
Exercise involves powering muscles with energy from carbohydrates, mobilised from the body’s own sources (eg glycogen), or fat from fat reserves. Particularly during intense exercise, the preferred substrate for energy conversion is carbohydrates because of their efficient energy supply. However, glycogen stored in muscles and liver is limited to about 1,750 kcal.
During prolonged endurance exercise, these stores get depleted and are then no longer sufficient to support high intensity activities. In contrast, body stores of fat are large (around 80,000 kcal), but the conversion of these into energy is much slower than that of carbohydrates. The challenge is to use the body’s fat reserves to a greater extent to fuel the muscles.
What role can the carbohydrate choice with sports drinks play in this? Firstly, carbohydrates consumed with foods or sports drinks will be the first used to supply energy to muscles. This allows the body to save its core carbohydrate and fat reserves for when no ‘external’ sources are available.
Secondly, the rate of glucose supply from those drinks determines the extent to which the body’s internal energy supplies are utilised. This means that carbohydrates providing fast glucose to the body lead to less extensive use of the existing fat reserves.
The ‘slow release’ carbohydrate Palatinose, which provides energy in the form of glucose more steadily over a longer time, allows the body a higher level of fat utilisation, as studies at the Freiburg University have shown*. In endurance exercise, a higher contribution of fat oxidation is said to have a glycogen sparing effect and thus a beneficial effect to enhance endurance performance.
Palatinose is derived from pure beet sugar and is also found in honey and sugar cane as a natural component. With a mild sweetness, its sensory profile is very similar to sugar, without any aftertaste. At the same time, sports drinks produced with Palatinose maintain a constant osmolality even in acidic and pasteurised beverages – no matter if they are isotonic, hypotonic or hypertonic. This means the amount of solute particles of salt, minerals or protein remains stable during the complete shelf life.
With Palatinose, new and modern concepts of a sports drink can be achieved, providing prolonged energy with a mild and natural sweetness.
Beneo is the category sponsor for ‘Best sports or fitness drink’ in the Beverage Innovation Awards @ drinktec.
Source: Beneo
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