Onnit’s T-Plus testo booster and estrogen blocker contains maltodextrin powder to provide a quick energy source to support your workouts. Malt is the product of steeping, germinating and drying barley or some other grain, contains starch and is generally used for brewing and distilling. Dextrin is obtained by hydrolysis of starch and used as a thickening agent and in dietary supplements. Dextrins make up a group of low-molecular-weight carbohydrates comprised of polymers of glucose. Maltodextrins can be obtained from corn, wheat, potato or tapioca. Tapioca happens to be a starch that comes from the cassava plant grown in South America. Tapioca starch is obtained from the tuberous root of this tropical tree.
One of the simplest sugars in our body is glucose also called dextrose. The monomer glucose is used to make ATP in a wide range of organisms during aerobic and anaerobic respiration. When you have more glucose than you need, it is stored in polymeric form by bonding glucose together. Depending on whether you are plant or animal, the glucose storage product has a different branching pattern. Starch is the storage form of glucose in plants and is somewhat branched. See diagram below. The orange dots represent a single glucose molecule. Animals store excess glucose as glycogen. This polymeric glucose molecule is highly branched. There is another polymeric glucose molecule, however it is not a storage form but rather used for structure in plants and it is known as cellulose. In this case, the glucose monomers are connected in a straight line chain. This is tough stuff. Surely, you’re familiar with the strings on the outer side of celery. Well, that’s cellulose and makes great fiber to keep your gut clean. You see, we don’t have an enzyme to break down cellulose so it goes in one end and out the other. On the other hand, we have enzymes that break down starch and glycogen so we can use those as energy sources from the foods we eat. Within our digestive tract, maltodextrins are broken down into separate glucose (dextrose) molecules so they can be absorbed by the gut and assimilated by the body.
Maltodextrin Isolation
During the digestive process, maltodextrins are broken down into simple dextrose (or glucose) molecules so that they can be assimilated by the body.
Maltodextrin is extracted from potato, corn, wheat and/or barley. To release the starch (glucose polymers) from other molecules such as amino acids, chemists use a process known as hydrolysis which uses water to break down proteins. This procedure is followed by adding an enzyme to further remove amino acids and other molecules. In the end, you end up with a white powder that is made up of polymeric glucose molecules known as maltodextrin. Maltodextrin generally is tasteless but sometimes has a hint of sweetness. It dissolves readily in water making it an excellent energy source in sports drinks and supplements.
Maltodextrin and Sports
Maltodextrin is easily digested by the gastrointestinal tract and absorbed as single glucose molecules. This makes for a quick energy source that can be added to cold water or bought in sports energy drinks. If you’re looking to gain weight and bulk up, maltodextrin is what you need to carry through your workouts. This is an all natural energy source that has no adverse side effects. Maltodextrin supplementation before and during workouts will help you work longer and harder during intense workouts and help to maintain glycogen stores. Onnit’s T-Plus not only boosts testosterone levels and blocks estrogen production but supplies a quick energy source in the form of maltodextrin to sustain your workouts.
Summary
Maltodextrin is carbohydrate that is isolated from potato, wheat, corn and barley. It is a polymeric form of glucose found in plants known as starch where glucose is attached to each other in a branched fashion. This carbohydrate easily mixes with water and is highly digestible making it a fast energy source for athletes. Onnit has added maltodextrin to it T-Plus supplement to supply quick energy for your workouts.
Suggested Reading:
Lack of effect of a high-calorie dextrose or maltodextrin meal on postprandial oxidative stress in healthy young men.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20975107
Gastric emptying of water and isocaloric carbohydrate solutions consumed at rest.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8052114
Availability, fermentability, and energy value of resistant maltodextrin: modeling of short-term indirect calorimetric measurements in healthy adults
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/83/6/1321.full
Effect of graded fructose coingestion with maltodextrin on exogenous 14C-fructose and 13C-glucose oxidation efficiency and high-intensity cycling performance
http://jap.physiology.org/content/104/6/1709.long
Comparison of exogenous glucose, fructose and galactose oxidation during exercise using 13C-labelling. Br J Nutr 96: 56–61, 2006.
Respective oxidation of exogenous glucose and fructose given in the same drink during exercise. J Appl Physiol 76: 1014–1019, 1994.