Hydration tablets and dodgy guts

I’m late to the party with hydration tablets but have been trying some OTE ones I was given as a freebie.

It’s nice to have something sweet in the bottle that isn’t a carb drink and unscientifically I think I feel better at the end of rides, but the old intestines aren’t happy!

I see Gu do a tab with Xylitol instead of Sorbitol, apparently to reduce ‘gastrointestinal distress’. Does it make a difference? Or are all sweeteners alike?

Try Elete . It’s just the salts, no sweeteners. Comes in a small dropper bottle. All that artificial sweetener nonsense is best avoided.

Thanks, I just realised the inherent contradiction in what I was asking for, sweet taste but no sugar and no sweetener, d’oh!

Apparently High 5 Neutral is sweetener free too

Dilute it further, try half a tablet? If you’re doing a combination of intensity and duration that means you need gels and drinks I think it’s a case of upping the concentration slowly. Didn’t work for me though, too many rides with a bad stomach and I came to the conclusion it’s just a type of junk food : )

Yeah, it’s one of the other. Better off with sugars than sweetener, or go unsweetened.

Or what I did at the last race I did in 2021 was cramp up, lie on the floor trying to stretch it out and then scoffed 4 packets of ready salted crisps. Did the trick and I was back on the bike!

I gave up on hydration tabs because they messed with my guts, which I put down to artificial sweeteners, which have all sorts of question marks over them along with gut issues, sorbitol, for example, is a known laxative and also the sweetener SIS uses in its tabs. Skratch Labs mix is decent ime, but very expensive. Mostly now I just drink water. I don’t know what Torq does in that area, but again may be worth a look.

If it’s carb free, what exactly are you hoping to get out of the hydration tablets? If the answer is salt, you could just take salt capsules and drink water. IME they’re a lot easier on the stomach, and personally I prefer to drink water to get that “clean mouth” feeling.

The effervescent ones disagree with me. I’m fine with other forms and sweeteners.

I tend to just use salt. But occasionally prepared options are good as is some flavour. Will check out elete.

Didn’t work for me though, too many rides with a bad stomach and I came to the conclusion it’s just a type of junk food : )

I came to a similar conclusion, a lot of ‘sports nutrition’ seems to be basically ultra-processed gunk with a shedload of questionable ingredients. This is the list from an SIS gel:

Water, Maltodextrin (from Maize) (33%), Gelling Agents (Gellan Gum, Xanthan Gum), Natural Flavouring, Acidity Regulators (Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate), Preservatives (Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate), Sweetener (Acesulfame K), Sodium Chloride, Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid)

I’m sure someone will be along in a moment to tell me that all these things are naturally occurring and highly nutritious, but personally I’m not overly convinced, ymmv.

If it’s carb free, what exactly are you hoping to get out of the hydration tablets?

Good question! I guess I just started using them as an experiment since I got them as a freebie. I think mainly I liked having something a bit tastier than water in my bottle, but clearly if I don’t want carbs or sweetener then I’ll have to forego that, or I could just squeeze a lime into my bottle!

I wanted to try continue using electrolytes though as I think I feel better for it during and after.

There is a flavoured Elete, but we just have the standard neutral one. Makes the water taste slightly salty/ soft.

A squirt of lime sounds good too.

Zero cal hydration is flawed. It doesn’t do the job half as well as it claims. Torq’s hydration is far superior at hydrating you. Scroll to the bottom of the link to understand just why it’s better & the only hydration product you should be using.

https://www.torqfitness.co.uk/product-category/nutrition/hydration-products

Torq and Skratch seem to be offering very similar things, I didn’t like full fat energy drink has it sort of promoted a thirst and I found myself guzzling it.

Quite happy with solid foods for fuel unless I’m on turbo or something, but the ‘low fat’ energy drinks could be a good compromise, 1 500ml bottle appears to be half an enery bar’s worth of energy

I like Skratch as I hate the taste of artifical sweetners, and I am also a slow absorber of fructose, which leads to an unpleasent 24 hours or so the day after if I drink too much of it – and most energy drinks are stuffed full (discovered via High 5 and some urgent trips…). I’m very sweaty, so I find a noticable difference with elctrolytes against plain water. Or maybe it’s all in my head! Pineapple, lemon/lime and strawberry lemonade flavours are all nice, so I get some variety too.

Skratch do have a little sugar in the mixture; they reckon (IIRC) that activating the sugar absorption channels also helps take up the salts.

Have you tried Active Root? The ginger content is supposed to make things a bit easier on the guts. I’ve not had any issues with the sports drink mix but they do an electrolyte drink/tabs too.

You can buy a bag of just the electrolyte powder very cheaply, then add a posh squash (no sweetener) to taste. The tabs are mega expensive for what they are and still have the stuff that makes them fizz.

Nuun used to do just electrolytes worked well.

I like the Precision Hydration sachets.

They come in various strengths, and have a small amount of sugar, no artificial sweeteners. (Their tablets are different: no sugar, yes sweeteners.)

https://www.precisionhydration.com/products/ph-1500-electrolyte-drink-mix/

Tried some homebrew today on a hot and sunny 100km Sportive.

Basically the juice of a lime, 750ml of water, generous pinch of sea salts.

Pleasant to drink, not gut distress, but couldn’t tell if any better than just water. Ironically I actually cramped today which is unusual for me, but since it was literally my fastest ride ever (got into a group I had no right to be in) I suspect the cramping was just fatigue.

Still v.tempted by the Skratch pineapple, just sounds tasty!

High5 Zero hydration tablets works best for me. The sweetener is sucralose, which does contain kcal, but ironically is indigestible, so effectively zero calories.

The energy powder does give me dodgy digestion. It really should have a Porsche badge on it to indicate how fast it will pass through you.

High5 Zero hydration tablets works best for me.

Yep, same here. They’re fine in moderation, just back from a long-ish road ride with no ill effects. The pre-ride coffee clear out helps, I find.

Found some For Goodness Shakes tabs in Decathlon which have worked fine for me this last summer.

You can buy a bag of just the electrolyte powder very cheaply

I do this. It’s dirt cheap from the sports nutrition shop I order it from (3 quid for half a kilo) and you just add it to your own recipes.

Works out miles cheaper than store-bought sports drinks and doesn’t give you stomach issues, especially if you have IBS.

Some great recipes here and loads more can be found online elsewhere.