HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT CARBOHYDRATES INTRA WORKOUT

Now you might ask what's the difference between consuming plain glucose during a workout vs consuming a high molecular weight carb source like vitargo or hbcd intra workout? Both are sugars with glucose being the end product?

The difference comes in in its absorption in the small intestine. Human blood has a osmolarity of about 300 mosm/kg give or take. Sugar has a osmolarity much closer to 300 than vitargo or hbcd does. So why does this matter?

Osmosis or the transport of fluid across a membrane in the body depends on osmotic pressure. Osmosis occurs from a low pressure gradient to a high pressure gradient. So if the osmolarity of sugar is close to that of human blood there is no real gradient. On the other hand the large gradient from hbcd/vitargo allows for a aggressive pull of carbs from the small intestine allowing for quick absorption.

A lot of times if the gradient is too strong this flux might pull too much water into the small intestine causing stomach bloat as well. This is called dumping syndrome. So some companies add a bit of dextrose to increase the osmolarity to prevent this from happening.

Enjoy learning from my articles. Take your fitness journey to the next level and join my coaching squad.