Maltodextrin: It’s Simple Really!

I was flicking through a health magazine the other day when I came across this in an ad for a breakfast protein drink.

long lasting carb

What caught my eye was that they highlighted maltodextrin as a ‘long lasting carb’.

Okay, to the layman the fact that maltodextrin is technically a complex carbohydrate can be confusing.  Complex carbs are are slowly digested aren’t they? Unfortunately it’s not as simple as that.

Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide meaning it consists of chains of glucose molecules linked together. However, it’s easily digestible and absorbed as rapidly as glucose. Maltodextrin also has a glycemic index that’s higher than glucose (105+ vs 95).

Now this makes maltodextrin great to consume with other nutrients around workout time (when rapidly absorbed is good) but not the best at breakfast time.

And really if you’re formulating ‘healthy’ breakfast drinks you should know better.

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