Rands per gram for sports

Why This Post?

Ever stood in front of a wall of gels or drink mixes wondering which one actually gives you the best value? All other things being equal, a good indicator of the value of a product is the amount you pay for the amount of carbohydrates (CHO). As cyclists and endurance athletes, we all want to fuel enough - but without going broke in the process.

This post breaks down the cost of sports nutrition products in South Africa, looking specifically at how much you’re paying per gram of carbohydrate. Whether you’re fueling up for your next big race or just trying to keep your rides steady without bleeding cash, this should help you figure out which products are worth it—and which ones are just shiny packaging.

How We Did It

We did a deep dive into prices across a bunch of local websites—checking out the usual sports nutrition suspects (you can have a look at the dataset yourself). For each product, we pulled the price, the carb content, and the serving size straight from the labels or product pages. Then we calculated the rand-per-gram of carbs and plotted it. To keep things simple and fair, we grouped everything into four categories: gels, bars, drink mixes, and everyday foods (because sometimes some bread and a coke does the job just fine). Each product type is coloured by whether it is above, below, or on the average price for that category.

Let’s dig in and see who’s offering real fuel—and who’s just fueling the hype.

Limitations

Prices, stock, specials and discount codes may influence prices here. Carbohydrate composition (glucose:fructose ratio), and sodium content of the products are not considered. The carbohydrate content of the products is based on the manufacturer’s claims, and may not be accurate. The actual vs claimed carbohydrate is not measured, nor is the amount of residual product that is left in the product packaging accounted for. We also did not account for the ease of use of the product such as gel-opening failure rates, or how long a drink mix may take to dissolve. We also did not measure how long it may take to consume a given amount of carbohydrate for each product.

Conclusion

Assuming all other things are equal, the rand per gram may be a simple way to guide purchasing decisions. Gel products are the most expensive, followed by bars and drink mixes.

Practical Applications

High value gel products should not cost more than double the rands for the amount of carbohydrate they contain. For instance, a gel that contains 30g of carbohydrate should not cost more than R60.

High value drink mix products should contain double the amount of carbohydrate per rand spent. For instance, a drink mix tub that contains 800g of carbohydrate should not cost more than R400.

Not medical advice but food for thought

There is evidence to suggest that oxidation rates of gels, bars and drink mixes do not differ when matched with liquid consumption (Jeukendrup, 2014; Pfeiffer, Stellingwerff, Zaltas, & Jeukendrup, 2010a, 2010b) and therefore the product type should be chosen based on personal preference, such as convenience or taste, instead of for “performance” reasons.

Pfeiffer, B., Stellingwerff, T., Zaltas, E., & Jeukendrup, A. E. (2010a). CHO Oxidation from a CHO Gel Compared with a Drink during Exercise. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 42(11), 2038–2045. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181e0efe6

Pfeiffer, B., Stellingwerff, T., Zaltas, E., & Jeukendrup, A. E. (2010b). Oxidation of Solid versus Liquid CHO Sources during Exercise. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 42(11), 2030–2037. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181e0efc9

Cramer, M. J., Dumke, C. L., Hailes, W. S., Cuddy, J. S., & Ruby, B. C. (2015). Postexercise Glycogen Recovery and Exercise Performance is Not Significantly Different Between Fast Food and Sport Supplements. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 25(5), 448–455. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2014-0230

Flynn, S., Rosales, A., Hailes, W., & Ruby, B. (2020). Males and females exhibit similar muscle glycogen recovery with varied recovery food sources. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 120(5), 1131–1142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04352-2

Trommelen, J., Fuchs, C., Beelen, M., Lenaerts, K., Jeukendrup, A., Cermak, N., & Van Loon, L. (2017). Fructose and Sucrose Intake Increase Exogenous Carbohydrate Oxidation during Exercise. Nutrients, 9(2), 167. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9020167

Products may market natural flavoring or high quality ingredients as reasons that they are better than other products, but there is evidence to suggest that the body does not actually know the difference between food sources marketed as sports food and those that are not (Cramer, Dumke, Hailes, Cuddy, & Ruby, 2015; Flynn, Rosales, Hailes, & Ruby, 2020; Jeukendrup, 2014; Trommelen et al., 2017).

Anecdotally from this exercise, we noticed that isotonic or high sodium products (like GU Roctane, or “hydrogel” products) are much more expensive than their “normal” counterparts with the main difference being sodium content. Sodium exists in table salt and is cheap to supplement into your drink mixes based on your own needs.

Since glucose transport is saturated at 60g/hr based on the maximal transport from SGLT1, fructose is the carbohydrate type that can be increased based on increasing needs (intensity or duration) (Jeukendrup, 2014). Fructose is cheap and relatively available at pharmacies or large grocery stores. It can be supplemented into existing drink mixes based on the intensity. The more intense, the more fructose to add. For instance, a 90g CHO serving from a product marketed as a 2:1 ratio can have an additional 30g fructose added for a 120g CHO serving without saturating the SGLT1 transporter.

Jeukendrup, A. (2014). A Step Towards Personalized Sports Nutrition: Carbohydrate Intake During Exercise. Sports Medicine, 44(S1), 25–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-014-0148-z

Note: This analysis is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical or nutritional advice. Always consult with qualified healthcare professionals before making significant changes to your nutrition or supplementation strategy.