Bottle mixology
Your sports drink works by osmosis: too concentrated, and it pulls water out of your blood instead of putting it back. We paid so you would know. Enter your recipe and the tool tells you whether it is fuel or an enema.
The science behind the tool
Osmolarity
What counts is the number of dissolved particles, not their mass. Your plasma runs at ~290 mOsm/L. Below that, the water in your bottle moves into the blood. Above it, your gut has to dilute first, using water from your plasma. You dehydrate yourself by drinking.
Maltodextrin
One maltodextrin molecule (~1800 g/mol) carries the energy of 10 glucose units for the osmotic pressure of a single particle. That is the hack that lets you put 60 g of carbs in a bottle that stays hypotonic.
The SGLT1/GLUT5 duo
Glucose goes through SGLT1 (~60 g/h max), fructose through GLUT5 (~30 g/h on top). To pass 60 g/h without blowing up your gut you need both. Hence the 2:1 and 1:0.8 ratios of the serious products (and of our presets).