The energy gel market is very specific because it only concerns athletes and not necessarily in all sports. Their interest is more marked in endurance sports or intense sports. An energy gel is sugar packaged in a small tube that provides a fairly immediate energy intake during intense activity. We do not consume it for pleasure as a snack like a cereal bar. Let's see what is the best energy gel for sport?
What is an energy gel ?
An energy gel or carbohydrate gel, as the official term goes, is a concentrate of different carbohydrates packaged in a small tube or a carton that is easily transportable. It is generally composed of a combination of several sugars with different glycemic indexes to provide athletes with the glycogen stores they need to maintain or increase their effort and avoid muscle problems.
The glycemic index (or glycemic index) -GI- has become very popular in recent years, is a criterion for ranking foods containing carbohydrates from 1 to 100, based on their effects on blood sugar (i.e. the level of glucose in the blood) during the 2 hours following their ingestion.
Some sugars like glucose or rice syrup with a very high glycemic index (GI100) will have a very rapid release of energy for an immediate but short-lived effect. This is the famous boost.
Others with a lower GI like agave syrup (GI 15) allow a slower release of energy which will therefore last longer.
That's why Mulebar gels mix brown rice syrup with agave syrup and fruit concentrate to provide 2 types of energies.
When to consume an energy gel for sport ?
Food allows the human body to build up glycogen stores to provide energy to the muscles. The more intense the physical activity, the more the body will use these stores, it burns 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 like deviations - the famous energy slump or hunger pangs - which is why a moderate and regular intake is preferred during exercise. A sip every 15 minutes during a marathon for example, or one gel per hour is a good frequency. If the pace is very sustained, you will need to take more. Do not forget to always drink a little water right after to remove the sweet taste in the mouth and facilitate digestion.
You should never wait until you feel tired, and even less until your legs feel like cotton wool, to recharge your batteries. It's too late! Too much sugar intake at a time when your body is lacking can even cause reactive hypoglycemia - also known as the "yo-yo" effect - and make you miss your race.
Reactive hypoglycemia usually occurs after too much sugar intake which causes a sudden increase in blood sugar. In response to this hyperglycemia, the body triggers a lot of insulin (hypoglycemic hormone allowing the storage of glucose in the cells) which causes the sugar level to drop, sometimes too significantly.
Many "beginner" runners know this problem and very often fail their race. For safety, for fear of running out of energy and especially because of a lack of preparation during training in the months preceding 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 dilute in a drink. A madness from a sporting point of view but very profitable from a commercial point of view!
Which sports are concerned by energy gels ?
There are of course sports where the consumption of an energy gel makes sense. These are generally endurance sports such as cycling, running and triathlon which combines the two where it is not possible to chew a solid product like an energy bar. More and more team sports players also consume them at half-time as well as tennis players.
How long does it take to see the effects of a sports energy gel?
While an energy bar will take about twenty minutes before it starts to be digested and therefore passes into the bloodstream, an energy gel or energy puree, which are very fluid, pass into the bloodstream within 5 minutes after ingestion. These are much more competition-oriented products because they give a fairly immediate boost before a difficulty such as climbing a mountain pass by bike or every 10 km during a marathon.
What is the best energy gel for sports?
The Mulebar brand, created in 2008, offers a range of 5 energy gels, 4 of which are vegan (there are traces of milk in the salted caramel), which have revolutionized a market dominated by pharmaceutical laboratories offering products that are certainly effective (this is not the most complicated) but not always natural and, above all, without any flavor.
Mulebar's DNA is to offer 100% natural products, with premium ingredients with a liquid texture, easy to swallow during exercise and very original flavors.
Many sports clients tell us that a Mulebar bar, puree or gel is a real comfort during exercise, a reward throughout the journey. Having fun is the most important thing in sport because when the body gives up, it is the mind that takes over to go all the way through the effort.
Discover our 5 original recipes and how to use them?
As with energy bars and energy compotes, Mulebar was a pioneer in the gel market by inventing original recipes.
Our energy base is a blend of brown rice syrup with a very high glycemic index for an immediate energy supply and agave syrup with a very low glycemic index for a much slower release, necessary in endurance sports such as marathons or trail running.
The low number of ingredients in our recipes and the absence of preservatives, colorants and other synthetic fragrances make our gels easy to digest even by people with the most sensitive stomachs. Normal, it's 100% natural!
Here are our 5 energy concentrates in tubes and how to use them:
This is the gel to take at the start of the race. Its cherry juice concentrate provides interesting antioxidants at the start of the event to prevent cramps.
It is also a gel to take at the start of the race. Its apple juice concentrate also provides interesting antioxidants at the start of the event to prevent cramps.
Gel rather recommended for the middle of the race after that it depends on tastes
Gel rather recommended for the middle and end of the race. Its 50mg of natural caffeine from Guarana are a good kick in the butt when it starts to get hard at the level of the legs!
Gel rather recommended for the end of the race and night events. Its 100mg of natural caffeine from coffee and Guarana make it the most caffeinated gel on the market. "This stuff would wake the dead" I was told one day a pro cyclist who ran on it! Ultra efficient but not for wimps, it's strong coffee!
A unique energy gel on the market!
When we bought the Mulebar brand with my partner Denis Gargaud-Chanut in 2015, we wanted to innovate in the gel market dominated by pharmaceutical laboratories and losing ground because it did not meet new expectations of practicality and naturalness.
The first observation was the pollution linked to the use of single-use, non-resealable plastic tubes from which a little ultra-sticky product always leaks even after consumption. Far too many people prefer to throw them on the ground rather than dirty their gloves, pockets or bags. We're not even talking about the small plastic rods to break on the berlingot or "topettes" models which almost always end up on the ground because they are so small.
The second was the demand from sportswomen for products that were smaller, less sweet, less pasty to ingest and with more natural ingredients to avoid the stomach aches that are so common during racing.
We have therefore found several solutions to meet each of their expectations:
- Tubes equipped with a truly resealable cap which prevents the gel from leaking once finished but above all allows it to be taken in several times in relation to the excess sugar seen just above.
- Reusable tubes: a world first! Long before recycling became fashionable, thanks to the invention of our range of gel eco-refill bottles.
- Rounded ends so that our tubes do not pierce very fragile technical textiles that cost a fortune. Those who have already had this happen will appreciate it !
- A fluid texture that is easy to swallow during exercise when your mouth is very dry, without needing to drink too much to get it all down.
- Easy to dilute to make a drink. Powders eventually dry out and always leave a very acidic undiluted deposit at the bottom of the bottle. Our gels can therefore also be used as a syrup. 2 in 1 !
- Himalayan pink salt because it is the salt richest in trace elements in the world. This helps compensate for the loss of mineral salts through perspiration.
Mulebar gels among the cheapest on the market
If you want to save money, you should opt for our eco-refills of gels. A 444g bottle contains the equivalent of 12 tubes of 37g. It costs €20, i.e. a cost price of €1.66 per gel (without discount codes) when a tube is sold for €2.60 per unit. That's still a 36% reduction and much less plastic.
The eco-refills allow you to reuse the gel tubes once consumed and rinsed with hot water. Otherwise, many of our customers prefer to use the small reusable silicone bottles. We have two sizes, the small 60ml silicone vial which contains 2 gels and the 150ml silicone soft flask which contains 7.
Where are Mulebar energy gels made ?
Mulebar gels are still made in England. When I bought the brand in 2015 after having distributed it in France for 6 years, I looked for a French service provider. Unfortunately, none were able to fill our very specific tube, it requires a special machine that is difficult to amortize with our volumes. We therefore preferred to keep our real difference, our competitive advantage rather than give in to the sirens of made in France which would have suited us well since Brexit. The English factory is only 600 km from Paris when many brands sold in France come from much further away by boat or plane. A path is being studied for French manufacturing which would avoid all the complications related to Brexit.
Against the preserves !
When choosing a food, I recommend that you check the list of ingredients. If there are terms you don't know, don't wait to ask your pharmacist, run away!
Some brands add vitamins in addition to natural ingredients when said vitamins are already present in these foods. This is an interesting marketing argument that appeals to some nutritionists who only look at the labels. Generally these vitamins must be taken as a cure over several weeks to have a beneficial effect on our body, it is not in a gel of a few dozen grams taken episodically that it will change anything.
If all this has not convinced you, I invite you to go to the forums, social networks or the Mulebar site where you will see how highly appreciated our gels are.
If you don't need energy gels for your sports practice, then try our energy compotes, our energy bars and protein bars or our powdered drinks to dilute (energy drink and hydration drink).
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