Hi All,
A mate of mine gave me one of those hydration tabs on a long ride, the active ingredients of which are pretty much salt and caffeine as far as I can tell, it seemed to work so I thought I'd get my hands on some more.
The thing I discovered is that they appear to all be sweetened with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame. I personally stay right away from artificial sweeteners because I reckon they're suspect and to be quite honest I'm not worried about the couple of extra calories I may get from naturally occurring sugars.
I'm happy to make up my own powders or use a Gatorade type of product but I'm surprised that no one makes an artificial free tab. Do people really worry that much about calories that they'd prefer to ingest the chemicals, are the chemicals generally considered safe, do they not think about it or do they not care? Would there be a market natural tabs?
As far as I know, in America artificial sweeteners are used extensively in soft drinks etc because they're actually cheaper than sugar, I assume that they'd increase a products shelf life over the natural alternative and they don't have such strict ingredient labeling as here.
Maybe I'm just a kook in a tin foil hat...
What's the go with the dodgy chemicals in hydration tabs?
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Re: What's the go with the dodgy chemicals in hydration tabs
Postby Mulger bill » Fri Jul 31, 2015 7:13 pm
Buy whatever cordial you find palatable, fill your bottle and add a pinch of salt. Done.
...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.
London Boy 29/12/2011
London Boy 29/12/2011
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Re: What's the go with the dodgy chemicals in hydration tabs
Postby thecaptn » Fri Jul 31, 2015 7:23 pm
Sound advice. I'm regretting having written so much in the original postMulger bill wrote:Buy whatever cordial you find palatable, fill your bottle and add a pinch of salt. Done.
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Re: What's the go with the dodgy chemicals in hydration tabs
Postby Mulger bill » Fri Jul 31, 2015 7:32 pm
No mate, don't blame you, I've been leery of artificial sweeteners for years. You don't ask you don't find out.
...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.
London Boy 29/12/2011
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Re: What's the go with the dodgy chemicals in hydration tabs
Postby KGB » Fri Jul 31, 2015 7:42 pm
The best use of the tabs is when youre out on a long ride and need multiple bottle refills.
Is there really that much artificial stuff in a little tablet?
I've never given it much thought or care - maybe I'm the antithesis of the old kook with the tin foil hat?!
Is there really that much artificial stuff in a little tablet?
I've never given it much thought or care - maybe I'm the antithesis of the old kook with the tin foil hat?!
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Re: What's the go with the dodgy chemicals in hydration tabs
Postby ValleyForge » Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:04 am
There is a fair bit of tinfoil hat wearing concerning sweeteners. I personally avoid the substituted sugars ( -olol & -ose) but have found the Endura Low carb electrolyte powder. Dissolves beautifully and has one of the steviols as the "sweetener". If it came as a tablet it would be perfect, but I'd imagine it would then be filled with caking agents instead.
The other question is whether there is any benefit from replacement therapy for exercise <= 4hrs. I take 2 x 1000ml bottles of the Endura solution and then recharge with water. In addition to my calcium & magnesium supplements, cramps aren't a problem.
The other question is whether there is any benefit from replacement therapy for exercise <= 4hrs. I take 2 x 1000ml bottles of the Endura solution and then recharge with water. In addition to my calcium & magnesium supplements, cramps aren't a problem.
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Re: What's the go with the dodgy chemicals in hydration tabs
Postby BenGr » Sat Aug 01, 2015 2:14 pm
Whats the sweetness density of artificial sweeteners and sugars? I just note that zero calorie energy drink stuff is usually very low volume, whereas with calories is much higher.
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Re: What's the go with the dodgy chemicals in hydration tabs
Postby Duck! » Sat Aug 01, 2015 6:29 pm
Given that calories (and the alternative unit kilojoules) is a measure of the energy contained in the stuff, a few extra is definitely not a bad thing when one is burning truckloads of them out on the bike Not to mention the artificial things all have a nasty metallic taste to them. All of the -oses are naturally-derived sugars, it's the -ines, -ames & -ols that are the synthetic things.thecaptn wrote:Hi All,
A mate of mine gave me one of those hydration tabs on a long ride, the active ingredients of which are pretty much salt and caffeine as far as I can tell, it seemed to work so I thought I'd get my hands on some more.
The thing I discovered is that they appear to all be sweetened with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame. I personally stay right away from artificial sweeteners because I reckon they're suspect and to be quite honest I'm not worried about the couple of extra calories I may get from naturally occurring sugars.
I had a thought, but it got run over as it crossed my mind.
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Re: What's the go with the dodgy chemicals in hydration tabs
Postby Mulger bill » Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:27 pm
IIRC from a long ago newspaper article, energy density of aspartame and table sugar are very close at ~4 cal per gramme, but aspartame is somewhere in the order of 250 times sweeter. No idea for the others, sorry.BenGr wrote:Whats the sweetness density of artificial sweeteners and sugars? I just note that zero calorie energy drink stuff is usually very low volume, whereas with calories is much higher.
...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.
London Boy 29/12/2011
London Boy 29/12/2011
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