Originally Posted by hhnngg1

The maltodextrin, if you use enough, WILL prevent you from getting hunger pangs. 1 cup per bottle gives about 400-500 calories, so with 2 bottles worth, you're getting a good calorie load over several hours. It completely eliminates my hunger pangs.

Food is of course, also fine, with the 2 important caveats:

1) Solid food will trigger the 'gastrocolic' reflex. In English, this means the #2 reflex. Not a problem if you've cleared out before the ride, but can be an issue on longer rides for 4-6 hours where you're eating continuously and the have to make an inopportune #2 pit stop. With fluid nutrition, this reflex is greatly diminished.

2) If you're racing at all, it's a good policy to 'train with what you're going to race with.' PB&J sandwiches tucked into a rear pannier is totally fine until you realize you're going to plan on doing that 100 mile road race as fast as possible without the aero drag of the pannier, or without stopping for 5-10 minutes at a time to eat your solid nutrition.


And for the critique above, yes, maltordextrin is part of the answer - meaning like 95+% of it. On short rides of <4 hrs, maltodextrin+water is 100% of the answer. On longer rides than that, salt plays a role, but it's very controversial and potentially a lot smaller than most folks think (lots of peer-reviewed research on this by Dr. Tim Noakes, including strenuous dehydration studies. Turns out the body can buffer big salt loads and deficits extremely well. So despite one person taking in huge amounts of salt per hour on a ride which requires a lot of drinking water to offset, they might even be just as well off with minimal salt. At least that's the message of most of Noakes' studies.)

All the commercial hype about amino acids, dextrose/glucose blends, etc., are mostly marketing, with perhaps 1 or 2 small, often corporate sponsored studies to cite as evidence of why their product is different and better. When the truth is that the vast majority of them, including Cytomax, are really in fact 95%+ maltodextrin and its effects. Electrolytes are one of my favorite areas of overcommercialism - maybe if you're doing a century ride or Ironman you'll need those, but to sell them to the majority of folks on bikes and runners who generally do a longest workout of <3hrs, to think you need electrolytes or that your performance will be improved by a few minerals is totally bogus. Even on those long 4-6+ hr workouts/races, it's all about sodium because sodium regulates water retention. The other stuff is necessary for health but NOT for racing for a day.