{"id":7918,"date":"2024-06-05T18:58:34","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T18:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/setupjunkie.net\/?p=7918"},"modified":"2024-06-10T16:01:50","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T16:01:50","slug":"investigation-spring-energy-products-contain-less-than-half-of-claimed-calories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/setupjunkie.net\/index.php\/2024\/06\/05\/investigation-spring-energy-products-contain-less-than-half-of-claimed-calories\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigation: Spring Energy Products Contain Less Than Half of Claimed Calories"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Spring<\/p>\n

By\u00a0Brady Burgess<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Johanna Ohm<\/a> for iRunFar<\/a><\/em>, which first published this story. <\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Spring Energy\u2019s<\/a> Awesome Sauce gel was a product that seemed too good to be true. <\/strong><\/p>\n

A staple in many ultrarunners\u2019 nutrition plans, it promised to deliver high carbohydrates and calories in a small package of easy-to-digest applesauce-like gel. The 180-calorie gel offered nearly double that of its competition, with 45 g of carbohydrates and a mouthfeel and consistency tolerable for late in a race, when most foods sound unbearable.<\/p>\n

In April, a Reddit user posted results of a simple dehydration test to estimate calories in Spring Energy\u2019s Awesome Sauce, and suggested that the calorie and carbohydrate content was a fraction of what the label listed. The data from this simple, initial test inspired others to send multiple samples out for third-party lab nutritional analyses over the past month, including new results we\u2019ve collected. <\/p>\n

These results each confirm that Spring Energy\u2019s Awesome Sauce contains less than 50% of the calories stated on the label. We also present evidence that gels made by seven other nutrition companies contain calorie totals that are close to the stated amounts and well within regulatory guidelines for accuracy.<\/p>\n

Here, we look at the scrutiny that Spring Energy has experienced in the last month, examine the results of our lab testing of numerous gels, compare community members\u2019 various testing methods and results thus far, and consider the trail ahead for both Spring Energy and consumers.<\/p>\n

Why Carbs Are King in Endurance Running<\/h2>\n
\"Woman-running-on-beautiful-road-at-sunrise\"<\/a>
Running long distances requires proper fueling; (photo\/iRunFar\/Eszter Horanyi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fueling<\/a> is part of ultrarunning. To cover distances over multiple hours or days, ultrarunners need to eat and typically target ingesting between 150<\/a> and 450 calories per hour<\/a>. As iconic ultrarunner Ann Trason once reminded<\/a> us, \u201cUltramarathons are just a big eating and drinking competition with a little bit of running thrown in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calories, specifically from carbohydrates, are key to performance. Ultrarunning and other endurance sports have followed a trend toward higher and higher carbohydrate fueling strategies, with research<\/a> finding that higher carbohydrate fueling plans outperform lower carbohydrate fueling.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Spring Energy released Awesome Sauce, a natural-food-based gel they claimed had 180 calories and 45 g of carbohydrate per 54g serving. Marketing of the product emphasized using whole foods that would lead to less gastrointestinal (GI) distress. These whole-food high-calorie gels came at a premium price of $4.80 per gel for a Spring Energy Awesome Sauce purchased May 2024 versus $1.60 for a Gu Energy gel.<\/p>\n

Ultrarunners, shelling out hefty amounts of cash for a gel, thought Awesome Sauce provided more calories, more carbohydrates, and less risk of GI issues. The math was this: Awesome Sauce tasted great, had 80% more calories than a standard gel, and was made of high-quality natural foods that were worth paying more for. Awesome Sauce was a game changer \u2014 but only if the nutritional content on the label of 180 calories and 45 g of carbohydrates were true.<\/p>\n

\"Brady-Burgess-eating-Spring-Energy-Awesome-Sauce-during-the-2023-Tahoe-200-Mile\"<\/a>
Co-author Brady Burgess with a Spring Energy Awesome Sauce during the 2023 Tahoe 200 Mile; (photo\/Jack Hsueh)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Spring Energy Comes Under Scrutiny<\/h2>\n

Reddit user u\/sriirachamayo<\/a> was skeptical. In April, the Reddit user posted a photo<\/a> of a dehydrated Spring Energy Awesome Sauce, showing that the dry weight was a third of the carbohydrate weight listed on the label. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf all of those grams are carbs,\u201d u\/sriirachamayo posted, \u201cthat corresponds to about 60 calories, not 180.\u201d Other Redditors weighed in. Social media took to more dehydration experiments. Other people started looking into professional lab testing options.<\/p>\n

On May 3, we started a GoFundMe<\/a> to crowdfund third-party testing of Spring Energy Awesome Sauce, Spring Energy Canaberry, and energy gels from seven other brands. Meanwhile, others sent gels out for third-party testing, with the first results posted<\/a> on Instagram by Sporthunger.de<\/a>, a German\/Austrian sports nutrition retailer. <\/p>\n

On May 28, Jason Koop, an ultrarunning coach, author, and podcaster, posted<\/a> results showing that samples he sent of Spring Energy Awesome Sauce for third-party testing had only 18 g of carbohydrate, compared to the 45 g claimed on the label, and a total of 75 calories compared to the 180 labeled. He also reported that other Spring Energy products\u2019 calorie and carbohydrate content were below target and made the raw data reports available on his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates that food labels contain at least 80% of the listed values on their labels for Class II nutrients, which includes total carbohydrates and no more than 120% of the labeled calories. <\/p>\n

Variance in any product is expected from small deviations in manufacturing or differences in underlying ingredients. The FDA allows for variance in some nutrient values to account for this. Initial data coming in from several sources suggested Spring Energy was well outside these bounds.<\/p>\n

Previous research<\/a> on sports nutrition products has shown that discrepancies between labels and measured nutritional content can be widespread for other sports nutrition products. Given the preliminary data on Spring Energy\u2019s Awesome Sauce and other Spring Energy products, we wanted to know if there were widespread discrepancies in other energy gels. Are all gel nutrition labels off? Is Spring Energy an outlier or the norm?<\/p>\n

\"gofundme<\/a>
(Image\/screenshot)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ultrarunning Community Funds Third-Party Testing<\/h2>\n

With the help of 110 donors on GoFundMe<\/a>, we raised $2,805 to send additional samples from Spring Energy and other gel brands out for third-party testing. We tested a total of 13 samples from nine energy gel products to evaluate which brands and products had discrepancies between their nutrition label and lab-tested nutritional data.<\/p>\n

The tested products were:<\/p>\n