Maltodextrin

[TwoSpirits]

Can anyone with experience with using maltodextrin while hiking give me their thoughts and advice -- yea or nay; the Good, the Bad, the Ugly; how do they prefer to use it; any particular brand or place to purchase, etc., etc, etc.....

Thanks.

[peakbagger]

The military uses it a lot in their first strike rations. They put it in the various powered drink mixes which in my opinion fails miserably as the it does not dissolve leaving a gummy residue that makes a mess. i think they use it in their Zapplesauce. They also use it in the First Strike Bars which I like. The clam is it cuts down on a sugar buzz and stretches out the duration of the energy boost.

[imscotty]

Hmmm, whatever happened to Malto. He should weigh in on this one...

[illabelle]

Hmmm, whatever happened to Malto. He should weigh in on this one...

Yep, pretty sure this is HIS topic.

[cmoulder]

Hmmm, whatever happened to Malto. He should weigh in on this one...

Ha, that was my first thought... Where's Malto?!

Ray Jardine and many nutrition websites warn that maltodextrin is an 'excitotoxin' and therefore bad for us to consume. Back in the day I gobbled down many a PowerBar when I was bigly into road cycling so I guess I'm doomed.

This is right up Dogwood's alley as well.

[garlic08]

Ha, that was my first thought... Where's Malto?!...

Same here. I hope he didn't eat too much malto.

The OP may want to look it up on WebMD. It doesn't seem any worse than most of the other highly processed crap we hikers (and bikers) consume, but there are better alternatives. I'll leave that to Dogwood. But I recently read the book "Fiber Fueled" and it scared me. We're all doomed.

[cmoulder]

Same here. I hope he didn't eat too much malto.

The OP may want to look it up on WebMD. It doesn't seem any worse than most of the other highly processed crap we hikers (and bikers) consume, but there are better alternatives. I'll leave that to Dogwood. But I recently read the book "Fiber Fueled" and it scared me. We're all doomed.

Eventually, everything is bad for us....

[garlic08]

Yes, we all have a fatal disease. It's called life. And it's sexually transmitted.

[TwoSpirits]

I told my daughter that we used to ride bikes without helmets and went on family road trips piled in the back of the station wagon (neither of which activity I would advocate now)...AND ate raw cookie dough. She wonders why I'm alive.

[peakbagger]

My dad grew up in the depression in an orphanage eating whatever the church could afford, he never heard about cholesterol until his sixties and made it to age 97 and was active until the day before he died. Good eating may help but unless someone has the genes, they are out of luck.

[HankIV]

[QUOTE=garlic08;2292449.. We're all doomed.[/QUOTE]. Thank goodness

[Malto]

It’s been a while! I have used maltodextrin on two long hikes (PCT and CDT) as well as dozens of shorter (hundreds miles) hikes. I am currently packing up for another PCT thru and Malto will be with me again.
The good
1) you can easy meter in calories throughout the day. I do about 300 calories per hour while hiking.
2) it easy for me to consume. I started Malto after a high Sierra snowshoe trip when I couldn’t eat due to the intense activity and high elevation (12k+)
3) your body can use a lot of carbs and Malto is 100% carbs
The bad
1) it has zero nutrition. You will have to offset this with the rest of your food.
2) I buy 50 pound bags. I have only been able to find powdered vs agglomeration which sometimes is difficult to dissolve in really cold water.
3) you may get sick of it on a long hike. I never did primarily because I have at least a dozen different flavors. I flavor with unsweetened Koolaid and for the the CDT I add dehydrated powdered fruit in one bag per day which was many pounds of fruit over the hike.

Here is what I did for the PCT. let me know if you have any questions.
https://www.postholer.com/journal/Pa...e-Engine/19697

[RockDoc]

There's more bad, dude.

4) It's a processed food made from GMO corn
5) Insulin spike aka T2D starter kit
6) Your body interprets simple carbs as sugar. Are you sure you want to eat so much sugar? It's arguably toxic.
7) Lack of protein in the diet combined with hiking will cause muscle damage, if not muscle loss. You can't repair muscle with carb, or build muscle with carbs. Carbs is simply energy (which you can get from your body fat. Duh).

[Malto]

There's more bad, dude.

4) It's a processed food made from GMO corn
5) Insulin spike aka T2D starter kit
6) Your body interprets simple carbs as sugar. Are you sure you want to eat so much sugar? It's arguably toxic.
7) Lack of protein in the diet combined with hiking will cause muscle damage, if not muscle loss. You can't repair muscle with carb, or build muscle with carbs. Carbs is simply energy (which you can get from your body fat. Duh).

I addressed 7 “protein” around nutrition. Agree with needing protein. I just threw in 10 pounds of chicken in the dehydrator. Completely disagree with carbs=simple energy= body fat. Don’t need to get into a debate about this. There’s enough information out there on fueling for an endurance event.

[TwoSpirits]

Thanks for the info. I certainly am not planning on using this as a meal replacement diet -- just wondering about how I might use it as a "turbo-boost" during trips (and my trips are 2-4 weeks, max. No PCT for me!)