Review - August 5, 2004

Post-training recovery booster

First Endurance Ultragen

Ultragen recovery formula

In recent years serious athletes have realised that nutritional recovery is just as important as fueling during a race, if not more so. This is especially important for cyclists competing in multi day events that requires them to be at their best day after day after day. Anyone who has watched the longer Tour style races will be familiar with riders who seem to be able to conquer huge mountains one day and spectacularly bonk the next.

American company, First Endurance who sponsor three professional cycling teams (Navigators, Sierra Nevada & Webcor), Fred Rodriguez, Steve Larsen, Jamie Whitmore and the US Telemark Ski Team appear to be doing their best to give every athlete the opportunity of recovering as quickly as possible after hard racing or training sessions. Their new recovery drink "Ultragen" is stacked to the brim with every conceivable recovery supplement in amounts that First Endurance claim have been shown to be clinically effective in assisting post-training recovery. The ingredient list makes for interesting reading:

Serving size (91g) makes 12 fluid ounces.

Calories                                  320
Calories from fat                           0
Total fat                                   0
Total carbohydrate (100% from dextrose)    60g
Sugars                                     60g
Protein     (from whey protein isolate         20g
  Milk protein isolate, Hydrolyzed whey protein.)
Vitamin A                               2500IU (50% of daily value)
Vitamin C                                400mg (670% DV)
Vitamin D                                200IU (50%)
Vitamin E                                400IU (1250% DV)
Vitamin B1                                 8mg (500% DV)
Vitamin B2                                 8.5mg (500% DV)
Niacin                                    20mg (100% DV)
Vitamin B6                                 8mg (500% DV)
Folate                                   200mcg (50% DV)
Vitamin B12                                6mcg (50% DV)
Biotin                                   150mcg (50% DV)
Pantothenic acid                          20mg (200% DV)
Calcium                                  500mg (50% DV)
Phosphorus                               105mg (11% DV)
Magnesium                                250mg (65% DV)
Zinc                                     7.5mg (50% DV)
Chloride                                 150mg (4% DV)
Sodium                                   350mg (12.5 % DV)
Potassium                                200mg (6% DV)
BCAA's (Leucine, Iso-leucine, valine)      4.5g
Glutamine                                  6.0g

Not bad is it? In fact it looks like you could just about live off this stuff.

Most people know that recovery foods and drinks are to be consumed directly after exercise and into the next day. What they don't realise is that the timing of the consumption is of the utmost importance. Recent studies have shown that it's not only what you eat, but how soon you eat it. It seems that between 30 and 60 minutes after exercise there is a rapid phase of glycogen rebuilding without the need for insulin. However, if you can make carbohydrate and insulin available to the body, the re-synthesis phase can last for several more hours.

This is where Ultragen comes in. If you can provide your body with large doses of carbohydrate, your muscles will continue store glycogen until the glycogen threshold has been reached. Tests have found this to be around 600g of carbohydrate in the 24hr period post workout. As you can see from the table above, for every 91g of Ultragen you get a whopping 60g carbs to kick start the process. Better yet, according to First Endurance, they're high glycaemic index carbs that are quickly absorbed into your body and cells, so you take advantage of the glycogen window - the cellular door is open for nutrients and Ultragen crams plenty through.

Adding to this, Ultragen contains L-Glutamine which retains nitrogen for muscle growth and supports protein synthesis within the body. Add to that the full range of branched chain amino acids (BCAA) which the body does not produce naturally and you have yourself a complete recovery formula. Ultragen's Ultragen's senior VP of research, Robert Kunz was keen to stress that it's not just the presence of these nutrients that matters, but the amount. "What Ultragen does above and beyond any other recovery drinks on the market is to offer these nutrients in clinically effective doses," Kuz told Cyclingnews. "The 6g of glutamine and 4.5g of BCAAs and antioxidants are not only the highest in the industry, they are also the same level that the clinical research showed to be effective."

A full breakdown of the nutrients in Ultragen, the reasons they're there and the research that supports those reasons is available from First Endurance's website.

But does it work and how does it taste?

Dealing with the second question first, Ultragen comes in "Tropical Punch" flavour and it tastes okay. I'm not certain exactly what is "tropical" about it, maybe a hint of guava, but it isn't unpleasant. Most recovery drinks have a kind of chalky taste to them that comes from soy and whey proteins. Everyone is familiar with that powdery texture that you get in soy products from a mild form in plain soy milk to the thick, pasty texture found in some recovery bars. Many people can't stand it and I personally would not like to taste it every day. However Ultragen isn't too bad. I wouldn't go as far as to say that the texture isn't there, because it certainly is, but I have definitely had much worse than this. I found however that if instead of mixing it with water I mixed it with red Powerade it was extremely palatable.

This brings us back to the first question, does it work? In a word, yes. My samples of Ultragen were sent to me in the middle of training for Ironman and I received enough to last me right through my strength phase and into the taper. The first batch I made up with water and consumed after a brick session of 80km bike and 10km run. The next day my legs were OK and I was able to run again no probs, but you would expect this after that type of distance anyway. However the next weekend was a 2.5 hour cross country run followed by a 120km hill ride. This was the day that I mixed it with the Powerade and I have to say that the results were remarkable. The next day I felt no discomfort at all in my legs and was able to have a full training session at 80%.

Now the First Endurance people don't recommend that you mix their product with Powerade and I'm certainly not recommending it either. But I wonder if the extra initial dose of carbohydrates opened up the "door" referred to earlier, even further than just with water. I should also mention that all this training was done in the Australian summer so it may be that the Powerade helped to rehydrate my body allowing the Ultragen to be absorbed in a more efficient manner. I'm not a scientist so I don't know. What I do know is that I continued to use the Ultragen with the Powerade with the same results and would do so again.

We asked Ultragen's senior VP of research, Robert Kunz about mixing Ultragen with other drinks. "Mixing any recovery drink with a sugar type medium will certainly add to the flavor," said Kunz, "since basically you are diluting down the active ingredients with more sugar (Powerade), though we do not recommend this. The 60g of sugar in Ultragen coming exclusively from dextrose were designed to shuttle nutrients into the cell as quickly as possible. Mixing Ultragen with other drinks, reduces this glycemic index by introducing slower sugars. These slow sugars may taste good, but do not offer optimal glycogen resynthesis for maximum recovery."

Kunz also pointed out that on its own a serving of Ultragen wasn't intended to fully replace all the calories expended during a training session. "Athletes must also realize that a 320 calorie drink (Ultragen) is not always enough to replenish the thousands of calories used during long 4 hour+ workouts," he said. "Ultragen should be the first line of defense to assure all the key nutrients like high quality proteins, glutamine, BCAA's, antioxidants are quickly shuttled into the cell. Following an Ultragen serving there is still a need to replenish more lost nutrients. Powerade can certainly help further replenish lost glycogen and electrolytes, as would a second serving of Ultragen. Athletes must also pay close attention to how deprived they are of nutrients during their ride and adjust their recovery calories and sugars accordingly."

So to sum up, a very well researched product that works and tastes okay. (First Endurance says that the flavour has been tweaked since our sample was sent, and three more flavours are in development - Milk Chocolate, Vanilla and Orange Cream.) With any sports supplement you should experiment to find what works the best for you. The range of ingredients in Ultragen by First Endurance is definitely a good place to start.

Recommended retail price: US$45 for 15 servings
Pro:Stacked with all the right ingredients needed for recovery. Credible company who race and use their own products.
Con: Still has that whey taste. Only one currently flavour available.
More information: First Endurance 's website
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