Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin, 1kg

Description

Highly branched cyclic dextrin, 1 kilogram in the bag, 50 grams a serving, 20 servings at about 1 dollar 76 each. It is a glucose polymer made by treating starch with a branching enzyme, which produces a large molecule with low osmolality. Highly branched cyclic dextrin is unsweetened, close to tasteless, and it mixes without the syrupy thickness that maltodextrin gives a bottle.

The numbers on the bag

What low osmolality means, and what it is worth

Osmolality describes the concentration of dissolved particles in a solution. A long polymer made of many glucose units contributes fewer particles than the same weight of dextrose, so a drink mixed from it sits closer to the osmolality of body fluids. Gastric emptying studies have measured faster emptying for lower osmolality solutions.

That is the mechanism, described from the literature rather than promised as a result. What it is worth in practice depends entirely on whether gastric comfort is your limiting factor during exercise, and for many people it is not. Maltodextrin costs a fraction as much per gram of carbohydrate.

Against maltodextrin and dextrose

Dextrose is single glucose molecules, cheap and very sweet, with the highest osmolality of the three, and it is priced by the gram here like everything else on the per unit basis we use throughout. Maltodextrin is a short chain polymer, mildly sweet, moderate osmolality, and the standard choice for decades. Highly branched cyclic dextrin is the longest and most expensive of the three, and all three deliver roughly 4 calories a gram of glucose in the end.

Nobody should buy this expecting more energy per gram, because there is none. The argument is about tolerance and concentration, and the price per gram is printed on this listing so the premium is visible rather than implied.

What the carbohydrate research used

Endurance protocols have administered 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate an hour for exercise over an hour, and up to about 90 grams an hour using multiple transportable carbohydrate types, measuring oxidation rates with labelled carbohydrate alongside performance tests and gastrointestinal symptom questionnaires. A 50 gram serving sits inside that range. That is a description of the published protocols, not a claim about this bag.

Mixing it

Highly branched cyclic dextrin dissolves in cold water with a brief stir and stays in suspension rather than settling. There is no sweetener, so it tastes of almost nothing, which makes it easy to combine with electrolytes or an amino powder. Fifty grams in a small bottle is a thick drink: more water is usually the answer.

Where highly branched cyclic dextrin came from

It was developed in Japan as a food ingredient and reached sports nutrition afterwards, which is why the research splits between food science work measuring viscosity and osmolality and a smaller set of exercise studies measuring gastric comfort and performance. The food science half of that record is the more solid one.

The history also explains the price. Making highly branched cyclic dextrin needs an enzymatic step beyond what maltodextrin requires and the market for it is small. That is neither a reason to buy it nor a reason to avoid it. It is why the per gram figure on this listing reads the way it does.

Who it is actually for

People doing sessions long enough for carbohydrate intake to matter, and people whose stomachs object to sugary drinks during them. For a 45 minute gym session, a bag of highly branched cyclic dextrin is an expensive way to buy glucose, and we would rather print that than sell a tub to someone who will not use it.

Testing

Every lot is identity tested and assayed by an independent laboratory, with heavy metals and microbials screened alongside, and off specification lots are withdrawn with the certificate left published. The rest of the training powders, each stating every active separately, are on the performance page, and the reference material on carbohydrate and exercise is in the NIH fact sheet.