The energy gel market is very specific because it concerns only athletes who practice high-intensity sports, yet there are many nutrition brands offering them (Overstims, Nutrisens, Apurna, Isostar, Punchpower, Baouw, Powerbar, Gu energy, Meltonic...). It is sugar packaged in a small tube that provides a fairly immediate energy boost during intense activity, such as tackling a climb by bike or every 10 km in a marathon. This type of carbohydrate is not consumed for pleasure as a snack, like a cereal bar. Let's see which is the best energy gel for sports.
What is an energy gel?
A carbohydrate energy gel, the official term, is a concentrate of different carbohydrates packaged in a small tube or sachet that is easy to carry. It generally consists of a combination of several sugars with different glycemic indexes, providing athletes with the glycogen stores they need to maintain or increase their effort and avoid muscle problems.
The glycemic index (or GI), which has become very popular in recent years, is a classification criterion from 1 to 100 for foods containing carbohydrates, based on their effects on blood sugar levels (that is, the amount of glucose in the blood) during the 2 hours following ingestion.
Certain carbohydrates, such as glucose or rice syrup, with a very high glycemic index (GI 100), provide a very rapid release of energy for an immediate but short-lived effect. This is the famous energy boost.
Others, with a lower GI, such as agave syrup (GI 15), allow energy to be released more slowly and therefore last longer.
You will better understand the composition of our Mulebar energy gel recipes, in which we combine brown rice syrup, agave syrup, and fruit concentrate to provide two types of energy that are ideal for endurance sports.
When should you consume an energy gel for sports?
Foods containing carbohydrates allow the human body to build glycogen stores that provide energy to the muscles. The more intense the physical activity, the more the body uses these stores, burning calories. This is why it is strongly recommended to consume specific products, such as energy gels, during training or competition.
The human body does not respond well to extremes—the famous energy crash or hunger pangs—which is why moderate, regular intake is recommended during exercise. For example, taking a sip every 15 minutes during a marathon, or one gel per hour, is a good frequency. If the pace is very intense, you will need to take more. Remember to always drink a little water immediately afterward to rinse the sweet taste from your mouth and aid digestion.
You should never wait until you feel tired, let alone until your legs feel like cotton, before refueling. By then, it is too late! Consuming too much sugar when the body is lacking energy can even trigger reactive hypoglycemia—also known as the "yo-yo" effect—and cause you to fail in your competition.
Reactive hypoglycemia generally occurs after consuming too much sugar, which causes a sudden rise in blood glucose levels. In response to this hyperglycemia, the body releases a large amount of insulin (a glucose-lowering hormone that enables glucose to be stored in cells), causing blood sugar levels to drop, sometimes excessively.
Many "beginner" runners experience this problem and very often fail to complete their event. For safety, out of fear of running out of energy, and above all because of inadequate preparation during the months of training leading up to a race, they consume too many gels or energy drinks—sometimes both combined. On the other hand, some well-known brands offer 8 gels in their marathon pack, in addition to powders to mix into drinks. Physiologically, this is madness, but commercially, it is highly profitable!
Which sports are concerned?
There are, of course, sports for which nutrition is key and consuming an energy gel makes perfect sense. These are generally endurance sports such as trail running, cycling, running, or triathlon, which combines the two, where it is not possible to chew a solid product like an energy bar.
Read the article: Which energy gels for the marathon?
How long does it take to feel the effect of an energy gel for sports?
While a quality energy bar takes around twenty minutes to start being digested and therefore enter the bloodstream, an energy gel or energy purée, which are very fluid, enter the bloodstream within 5 minutes of ingestion. These products are much more competition-oriented because they provide a fairly immediate boost before a challenge such as cycling up a mountain pass or every 10 km during a marathon.
What is the best energy gel for sports?
Founded in 2008, the Mulebar brand offers a range of 5 energy gels, 4 of which are vegan (the salted caramel contains traces of milk), which revolutionized a market dominated by pharmaceutical laboratories offering products that are certainly effective (that’s not the hardest part) but not always natural and, above all, without any flavor.
Mulebar’s DNA is to offer high-quality, 100% natural products made with premium ingredients, featuring a liquid texture that is easy to consume during exercise and highly original flavors. We also make sure that the price of our products is in line with the market.
Many athletic customers tell us that a Mulebar bar, compote, or gel is a source of comfort during exercise, a reward throughout the course. Enjoying yourself is the most important thing in sport because when the body gives out, it’s the mind that takes over to make it to the end of the effort.
Discover our 5 original recipes and how to use them?
As with energy bars and energy compote, Mulebar was a pioneer in the gel market, creating original recipes with quality ingredients.
The small number of ingredients in our recipes, along with the absence of preservatives, colorants, and other synthetic flavorings, makes our gels easy to digest, even for people with the most sensitive stomachs. It’s only natural: 100% natural!
Here are our 5 energy concentrates in a tube and how to use them:
This is the gel to take at the beginning of a race. Its concentrated cherry juice provides beneficial antioxidants at the start of an event to help prevent cramps.
This is also a gel to take at the beginning of a race. Its concentrated apple juice also provides beneficial antioxidants to help prevent cramps.
This gel is best recommended for the middle of the race; after that, it depends on your taste.
This gel is best recommended for the middle and end of a race. Its 50mg of natural caffeine from guarana gives you a good kick in the backside when your legs start to feel heavy!
This gel is best recommended for the end of a race and nighttime events. Its 100mg of natural caffeine from coffee make it the most caffeinated gel on the market. “This stuff would wake the dead,” a professional cyclist who relied on it once told me! Ultra-effective, but not for the faint-hearted—it’s strong coffee!
A unique energy gel on the market!
When my partner Denis Gargaud-Chanut and I acquired the Mulebar brand in 2015, we wanted to innovate in the gel market, dominated by pharmaceutical laboratories and losing momentum because it did not meet new expectations for convenience and natural ingredients.
The first observation was the pollution caused by using non-resealable, single-use plastic tubes, which always leave a little ultra-sticky product leaking out even after they have been consumed. Far too many people then prefer to throw them on the ground rather than soil their gloves, pockets, or bags. And that is not even mentioning the small plastic tabs that have to be snapped off on pouch or “topette” models, which almost invariably end up on the ground because they are so small.
The second was female athletes' demand for products that were smaller, less sweet, less thick to consume, and made with more natural ingredients to avoid the stomach aches so common during races.
We therefore came up with several solutions to meet each of these needs:
- Tubes fitted with a truly resealable cap that prevents the gel from leaking once finished and, above all, allows it to be consumed in several servings given the excess sugar mentioned just above.
-
Reusable tubes: a world first! Long before recycling and #noplastic became fashionable, thanks to the invention of our range of gel eco-refills.
- Rounded tips so our tubes do not puncture delicate technical fabrics that cost a fortune. Anyone who has experienced this will appreciate it!
- A smooth texture that is easy to swallow during exercise when your mouth is very dry, without needing to drink too much to wash it down.
- Easy to dilute so you can make a drink from it. Powders eventually dry out and always leave a highly acidic, undiluted deposit at the bottom of the bottle. Our gels can therefore also be diluted like syrup. Two products in one!
-
Himalayan pink salt because it is the salt richest in trace minerals (magnesium, potassium, zinc, etc.) in the world. This helps replenish the mineral salts lost through sweating. Take a close look at the ingredients and sodium content of your usual gel: if there is none, switch!
What is the price of a Mulebar energy gel?
A 37 g serving, or one Mulebar tube, sells for around €2.50. This price is in line with the market, but be sure to compare products carefully, as they do not all weigh the same. The smallest weigh 25 g and the largest 80 g. The market price per kilogram therefore ranges from around €40 to more than €140! Mulebar is positioned at €67/kg for tubes, but only €45 for refill packs, making it one of the best value-for-money options.
Where is Mulebar energy gel made?
Mulebar gels are still made in England. When I bought the brand in 2015, after distributing it in France for six years, I looked for a French supplier. Unfortunately, none was able to fill our highly specific tube; it requires a special machine that is difficult to amortize with our volumes. We therefore preferred to preserve our real difference and competitive advantage rather than give in to the allure of “made in France,” which would nevertheless have suited us well since Brexit. The English factory is only 600 km from Paris, while quite a few brands sold in France come from much farther away by ship or plane.
Gels without preservatives!
When choosing a food, I recommend checking the ingredient list. If there are terms you don’t recognize, don’t wait to ask your pharmacist—run away!
Some sports nutrition brands add vitamins or BCAAs in addition to natural ingredients, even though those vitamins are already present in these foods. It is an effective marketing argument that appeals to some nutritionists who look only at labels. Generally, these vitamins need to be taken as a course over several weeks to have a beneficial effect on our bodies; taking them occasionally in a gel weighing a few dozen grams will not make any difference.
If none of this has convinced you, I invite you to look at reviews on forums, social media, or the Mulebar website, where you will see just how highly our gels have been rated since 2008.
If you don’t need gel for your sport, try our energy fruit purées or our energy bars, or our powdered drinks (sports drinks and hydration drinks) with red berry or citrus flavors—other excellent sources of quality carbohydrates for sports.
