Many  stand up paddle athletes drink a sports drink (such as Gatorade) during racing and training. This is perfect for workouts under 1 hour. The problem is that during longer workouts and races, and during intense training sessions, there are not enough calories in these sports drinks to get you through your workout or race. One way to increase the amount of calories you consume while racing and training is to add maltodextrin to your water bottle.

Food manufacturers create intermediate length carbohydrate molecules much shorter than the thousands of sugars in starches, but longer than the one or two sugars in molecules of monosaccharaides and disaccharides.These intermediate-length carbohydrate molecules are called maltodextrins or glucose polymers and are about 10 sugar units long. Maltodextrins used in sports drinks are almost tasteless.

Because maltodextrins are larger than simple sugars, a maltodextrin based sports drink can pack more calories per sip than a simple sugar based sports drink without causing GI distress because the osmotic load of the solutions are the same. A 6% simple carbohydrate solution will have about 100 calories in 16 ounces while a 6% maltodextrin solution will have about 600 calories in 16 ounces.

Maltodextrin must (MUST) be mixed with electrolytes before it can be used as a sports drink.

In the old days, athletes could source their own maltodextrin buy buying bulk (100lb bags) through commercial grain processors at a great cost savings.  Our sources, however, are cracking down and are currently somewhat less than willing to work directly with athletes.  We personally use CARBO-PRO mixed with and electrolyte mixture such as Thermolyte.  Remember, you cannot use CARBO-PRO (or any other maltodextrin formulation) without additional electrolytes.