Is More Carbs Always Better? How to Choose Your Best Endurance Fuel

Carbohydrates (or simply carbs) are one of the most important ingredients for endurance sports. They help produce energy for your muscles. Without enough carbs, it’s like driving a car with an empty fuel tank—no matter how strong your muscles (or engine) are, you’re not going anywhere.

But is more carbs always better when choosing your endurance or sports fuel? The answer is: “It depends.” Generally, the more carbs you can consume, the more energy your body can produce. It’s as simple as that. However, there’s only so much your muscles can absorb in a given period. For instance, even if you put more fuel into the engine, it won’t run faster unless all other factors are accounted for and match the increased fuel intake.

For example, in moderate endurance sports, an athlete (such as a trail runner) may need up to 40–60g of carbs per hour. For activities lasting less than two hours, your muscles likely have enough stored energy to sustain you. However, when you’re doing longer endurance events like marathons or ultramarathons (aka ultra running), which may last 4–6 hours or even up to 24 hours, your body requires a significant amount of fuel. In such cases, your body may need 60–90g of carbs per hour, and some well-trained athletes can even tolerate up to 100–120g per hour.

Now that you know how much fuel you need, you might think you can simply consume any source of carbs to meet those requirements. While this may work in theory, how, when, and what you consume also matters.

For example, if you consume an energy gel, it provides carbs, but without the right amount of water and sodium, your body may not absorb a large dose of carbs effectively. This is important because, typically, energy gels are designed to be consumed all at once. As you may have experienced, carrying an opened half-used gel packet during a race can be a sticky, unpleasant experience.

Now, let’s consider hydration. Many sports drinks, such as Gatorade, focus on electrolytes without offering enough carbs to sustain endurance efforts.

This is where a carb and electrolyte drink mix, like Endu1 Honey Boost, comes in. Honey Boost is formulated to maximise the amount of carbs and electrolytes your body requires during extreme endurance sports (such as ultra running). It doesn’t just load you with carbs but ensures they are absorbed efficiently by your body without causing stomach upset. Simply put, it’s like adding fuel to your engine, but with the right components to make it run faster (maximum carbs) and longer (easy on the stomach and no sweet fatigue).

Some products on the market suggest mixing drinks in highly concentrated forms to provide the necessary amount of carbs. However, they miss a crucial point: how well your body can absorb these carbs without enough water to dilute them. A very concentrated drink (called a hypertonic drink) can actually draw water from your gut to dilute the mixture, which may lead to dehydration—the opposite of what you want to achieve.

So, more carbs in your fuel or drink mix may not always be as good as it sounds. Choose wisely to ensure you’re optimising both your energy and hydration during your endurance events.