DIY endurance fueling ingredient

Agave syrup

Agave syrup is a fructose-dominant liquid sweetener — useful as a small fructose contribution to a multi-ingredient mix, but too fructose-heavy to use as the bulk base of a fueling plan.

What it is, and how to use it

Agave syrup is made by hydrolysing fructans (long fructose polymers) extracted from the agave plant. The hydrolysis releases free fructose, and the resulting syrup is roughly 85% fructose, 10% glucose, and 5% residual fructooligosaccharides by carb mass.

For DIY endurance fueling that profile is unusual. Most athletes need a glucose-dominant or balanced mix; agave is the opposite. Use cases that actually make sense are: as the fructose contribution in a mix with maltodextrin (glucose-only) when you want a liquid sweetener for taste plus the fructose chemistry; for athletes whose gut handles fructose very well and who are targeting 1:0.8 ratios — agave can simplify the mix by carrying both fructose and a little glucose in one component; or for taste variety in a long-session plan where multiple bottles need different flavours.

Avoid using agave as the only carb source — the fructose-heavy load saturates GLUT5 absorption around 30–50 g/h and the rest sits in the gut. Cost: €6–8/kg from German health-food stores or Amazon DE, about 5× the cost-per-gram-of-carb of table sugar.

Composition

Total carbs: 76 % by weight
Glucose: 10 % of carb mass
Fructose: 85 % of carb mass
Other carbs: 5 % of carb mass
Sweetness factor: 1.40 × sucrose
Osmolarity: 5.20 mOsm / g carb

Typical values; expect ±10% variance between producers / lots.

Try this ingredient in the DIY endurance fueling calculator.

Sources & citations

Other DIY fueling ingredients

← back to all ingredients