Maurten – Eliud Kipchoge’s, Mo Farah’s And Kenenisa Bekele’s Fuel Of Choice
Article by Tait Hearps of Sweat Elite
Question: what do Eliud Kipchoge, Mo Farah and Kenenisa Bekele have in common, aside from being fairly quick? Answer: Maurten!
The above list is not exhaustive, a slew of top athletes consume Maurten during races and games: Galen Rupp, Geoffrey Kamworor, Burhany Legese, Desiree Linden, Vivian Cheruiyot, Jan Frodeno and even the English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.
So how did this Swedish start-up come to be the fuel of choice for these superstars? Maurten claim that the secret behind their success is their patented hydrogel technology. This has allowed them to make great strides in the delivery of carbohydrates during exercise, without the gastrointestinal issues caused by other sports energy products.
As Maurten explains on its website: “When mixed with water you have a liquid carbohydrate sports drink containing a high concentration of maltodextrin and fructose. The sports drink instantly converts to hydrogel in the acidity of the stomach. The hydrogel enables a smooth transportation of the drink through the stomach to the intestine where the water, salt and carbohydrates are absorbed.”
A consistent supply of energy is essential for exercise. The body stores energy in the form of fats, and carbohydrates held as glycogen in the liver and muscles. During intense exercise carbohydrates are the body’s fuel of choice, with fat metabolism being reasonably limited. Energy stored by the body as glycogen can sustain exertion at a high level for an impressive amount of time, meaning that taking in nutrition during, say, a 10km run (or even a half marathon) is not going to greatly boost performance. However, for longer periods of high intensity exercise exogenous sources of carbohydrate are essential to preclude a declining level of performance, which can result in a ‘bonk’ – a profound hypoglycaemia that can cripple athletic performance – if left unchecked. This is the wall people talk about right around the 30km mark of a marathon.
Sports energy products are crafted to provide carbohydrates, often in conjunction with electrolytes and caffeine, during training and racing. The sweet spot of intake is generally accepted to be right around 80-90 grams of carbohydrate per hour. However, many athletes succumb to digestive issues – diarrhoea, stomach cramps, nausea – when trying to take such in such a high rate of carbs purely as gels and drink mixes, often requiring a mix of these as well as solids over a longer period of exertion. This is where Maurten claim to have the advantage, with the hydrogel formed when the mixture comes into contact with stomach acid allowing a smoother transition to the intestines where absorption actually takes place.
Maurten explain on their site:
“Normally, as soon as the concentration of carbohydrate in a drink is increased, gastric emptying slows down – resulting in less fluid and carbohydrate delivery to the body. The stomach problems caused by this have been a significant issue for many athletes.
At Maurten, we’ve found a way to avoid these problems by using hydrogel technology. This has enabled us to develop sports energy products with high carbohydrate concentrations. Some of the best runners in the world are now using our products, both during training and races.”
Whether or not this increased palatability and digestibility is truly making a significant contribution to the amazing performances by athletes using the product is difficult to elucidate. However, a large number of athletes are taking up the product, and interestingly, apparently none are paid for it. Maurten doesn’t have standard endorsement deals where it pays athletes to use its goods: the company supplies the product in exchange for photo rights. Elite runners clearly love it, with Maurten fuelling winners at all of the six world marathon majors in 2018.
The world’s fastest marathon runner, Eliud Kipchoge, used Maurten to fuel his huge world record run in Berlin in 2018. While there’s no guarantee this all-natural hydrogel will turn you into a record-breaking athlete, it’s a powerful and palatable source of energy for endurance.
