Ingredient reference
Sports nutrition ingredients: a DIY fueling reference
Eight ingredients commonly used in DIY endurance fueling. Composition, sweetness vs. sucrose, and osmolarity per gram. Use these to mix your own isotonic or hypertonic sports drink. The calculator handles concentration. Each row links to its sources in the Sources section below.
How accurate is this?
Each row carries an accuracy badge. Exact means the value follows from molecular structure or a defined reference (sucrose's 50/50 glucose:fructose, calculated osmolarities, etc.), so there's no meaningful variance.
±5%, ±10%, and ±15% mark typical values: averages from cited sources with the variance you should expect for that ingredient. Honey is the widest (floral source) at ±15%; vendor-pinned things like maltodextrin (DE grade) sit at ±5%. Apply the band to composition fields (glucose/fructose/other); sweetness and osmolarity for natural products inherit it because they're derived from the same averaged profile.
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Table sugar (sucrose) Exacttable-sugar100%Carbs50%Glucose50%FructoseSweet 1.00 · 2.92 mOsm/g3 sources ↓
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Maltodextrin (DE 10-15) ±5%maltodextrin100%Carbs100%Glucose0%FructoseSweet 0.05 · 0.50 mOsm/g3 sources ↓
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Dextrose (glucose monohydrate) Exactdextrose100%Carbs100%Glucose0%FructoseSweet 0.74 · 5.55 mOsm/g3 sources ↓
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Pure fructose powder Exactfructose100%Carbs0%Glucose100%FructoseSweet 1.73 · 5.55 mOsm/g4 sources ↓
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Honey ±15%honey82%Carbs38%Glucose46%FructoseSweet 1.10 · 5.10 mOsm/g3 sources ↓
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Agave syrup ±10%agave-syrup76%Carbs10%Glucose85%FructoseSweet 1.40 · 5.20 mOsm/g2 sources ↓
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Maple syrup (Grade A) ±10%maple-syrup67%Carbs6%Glucose6%FructoseSweet 1.00 · 3.40 mOsm/g2 sources ↓
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Brown rice syrup ±10%rice-syrup75%Carbs3%Glucose0%FructoseSweet 0.50 · 1.80 mOsm/g3 sources ↓
| Ingredient ⇅ | Carbs ⇅ | Glucose ⇅ | Fructose ⇅ | Other ⇅ | Sweetness ⇅ | mOsm/g ⇅ | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Table sugar (sucrose)
Exact
table-sugar
|
100 % | 50 % | 50 % | 0 % | 1.00 | 2.92 | 3 ↓ |
|
Maltodextrin (DE 10-15)
±5%
maltodextrin
|
100 % | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % | 0.05 | 0.50 | 3 ↓ |
|
Dextrose (glucose monohydrate)
Exact
dextrose
|
100 % | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % | 0.74 | 5.55 | 3 ↓ |
|
Pure fructose powder
Exact
fructose
|
100 % | 0 % | 100 % | 0 % | 1.73 | 5.55 | 4 ↓ |
|
Honey
±15%
honey
|
82 % | 38 % | 46 % | 16 % | 1.10 | 5.10 | 3 ↓ |
|
Agave syrup
±10%
agave-syrup
|
76 % | 10 % | 85 % | 5 % | 1.40 | 5.20 | 2 ↓ |
|
Maple syrup (Grade A)
±10%
maple-syrup
|
67 % | 6 % | 6 % | 88 % | 1.00 | 3.40 | 2 ↓ |
|
Brown rice syrup
±10%
rice-syrup
|
75 % | 3 % | 0 % | 97 % | 0.50 | 1.80 | 3 ↓ |
Note: Carbs column is % of product weight (e.g. honey is ~82% carbs, the rest is water). Glucose / Fructose / Other are % of the carb mass and should sum to ~100%. Tap any column header to sort.
Note: Carbs is % of product weight. Glucose / Fructose are % of carb mass.
Osmolarity (mOsm/g) is calculated per gram of carb dissolved in one liter of water. Lower values let you mix higher-concentration drinks before they upset GI tolerance.
References
Sources & notes
Composition values come from USDA FoodData Central and the cited sports-nutrition literature. Where values vary by manufacturer or provenance, this is flagged below.
Table sugar (sucrose) Exact
table-sugar-
Osmolarity: calculated from molecular weight 342.30 g/mol (sucrose, C12H22O11)
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Sweetness: reference standard (sucrose = 1.00 by definition)
Maltodextrin (DE 10-15) ±5%
maltodextrin-
Composition: manufacturer specifications (Cargill, Glico Nutrition) for DE 10-15 grade
Dextrose (glucose monohydrate) Exact
dextrose-
Osmolarity: calculated from molecular weight 180.16 g/mol (anhydrous reference)
Pure fructose powder Exact
fructose-
Osmolarity: calculated from molecular weight 180.16 g/mol
Honey ±15%
honey-
Note: composition varies by ±15% with floral source and processing
Agave syrup ±10%
agave-syrupMaple syrup (Grade A) ±10%
maple-syrupBrown rice syrup ±10%
rice-syrup-
Note: low osmolarity is the key feature — lets you mix high-concentration carrier flasks without GI distress
Open data
Take the dataset
This composition table (glucose/fructose split, sweetness vs. sucrose, osmolarity, and the source citation behind each value) is consolidated nowhere else. It's free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, just attribute carbsperhour.com. Build a spreadsheet, a club tool, or your own calculator on it.