Q: Why should I use Ultragen?
A: Each serving of Ultragen delivers clinically effective doses of the most advanced proteins available, the fastest-acting carbohydrates, glutamine, BCAAs, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and electrolytes. In addition, Ultragen integrates the latest nutritional technology in order to maximize recovery and provide the right nutrients to the right place during the 30-minute ‘Window of Opportunity’ following exercise. Nothing else on the market even comes close.
Q: How does Ultragen work?
A: Ultragen’s many components are designed to work synergistically in order to fully maximize recovery, providing clinically effective doses of the right nutrients to the right place at the right time. Click here for additional detail “How Ultragen Works”
Q: What is the 30-minute glycogen window of opportunity?
A: Research has shown that there is a critical thirty-minute glycogen window (called the “window of opportunity”) immediately following exercise when insulin sensitivity is at its highest and exhausted muscles essentially open the door to nutrients. In order to maximize this opportunity it is critical to use fast sugars like dextrose which help shuttle nutrients nutrients into the cell. It is equally important to make sure all ingredients are absorbed quickly.
Q: When should I use take Ultragen?
A: Immediately after a hard day of training or racing. Ultragen integrates the latest nutritional technology in order to maximize recovery and provide the right nutrients to the right place during the 30-minute ‘Window of Opportunity’ following exercise.
Q: What kind of proteins are in Ultragen?
A: Ultragen is formulated using a unique time-responsive protein matrix to maximize absorption through the entire spectrum of recovery time. Whey Protein Hydrolysate (WPH) is a pre-digested, small molecular weight complete protein and the fastest protein absorbed due to its small size and pre-digested peptide chains. Ion exchange Whey Protein Isolate (WPI) is also a low molecular weight protein, absorbed more slowly than WPH. Milk Protein Isolate (MPI), fully absorbable due to the unique quality of its isolate (which removes carbohydrates and fats), is absorbed more slowly than both WPH and WPI. Combining these three proteins allows the faster WPH and WPI to be absorbed during that critical first 30 minutes, and the slower MPI to remain and deliver the appropriate building blocks for slower processes. For more detail on Protein and what it means to endurance athletes, visit our Protein Newsletter at www.firstendurance.com/newsletter.html
Q: Why don’t you use soy protein?
A: Though Soy Protein Isolate is a high quality protein, some athletes are weary of isoflavones found in Soy. These Isoflavones have some estrogenic activity that some male athletes shy away from. Using PER and BV, two measures of a protein’s effectiveness, Whey scores higher on both marks. For more detail visit our Protein Newsletter www.firstendurance.com/newsletter.html
Q: What are high-glycemic carbohydrates and why are they important?
A: Based on a 50g-portion size, the glycemic index(GI) of a carbohydrate represents the magnitude
of the increase in blood sugar that occurs after ingestion of the carbohydrate. What glycemic index does not define is the portion size of the carbohydrate meal ingested (whether the portion size is 5g or 500g GI is not affected), but portion size can affect blood sugar. Carbohydrates with a higher GI cause a higher rush of sugar into your blood than carbohydrates with low GI. Elevated blood sugar causes insulin to be secreted to help modulate the sugar and subsequent sugar crash follows. Glycemic Load measures the GI multiplied by the total carbohydrate content giving a more practical and accurate determination of blood sugar response.
Q: What does L-Glutamine do?
A: Glutamine is an amino acid that supports glycogen and protein synthesis and increases nitrogen retention. At a clinically effective dose of 6G, Glutamine is essential for muscle tissue repair and recovery. For more detail on Glutamine and what it means to endurance athletes visit our Glutamine newsletter at www.firstendurance.com/newsletter.html
Q: Why are BCAAs important for endurance athletes?
A: BCAAs are the building blocks of the body. They are important for muscle growth & recuperation. In addition to building cells and repairing muscle tissue, BCAAs form antibodies that combat invading bacteria & viruses. Your body cannot manufacture its own BCAAs so they must be supplied through your diet and supplementation routine. BCAA’s also combat ‘central fatigue’ brought on by an imbalance of BCAA’s to Tryptophan ratio. It is this imbalance that causes you to feel tired and lethargic following long hard efforts.
Q: I’ve heard it’s important for endurance athletes to have higher levels of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Is this true?
A: Absolutely. Athletes, especially endurance athletes, need higher levels of specific vitamins, minerals and electrolytes to help restore energy levels, fight free radicals and maintain a healthy immune system. Keeping in mind that free radicals have one or more unpaired electrons, an antioxidant is a nutrient that offers an electron-rich binding site for these damaging oxidants, giving them a preferential site to bind to and pair up with missing electrons. So even though it seems like simple breathing is not healthy, the oxidation damage caused by the air we take in can be overcome with proper antioxidant protection. Supplements like vitamins C & E and selenium also offer sites for antioxidation, thereby reducing the damage from oxidative stress. You probably recognize now that oxidative stress is unavoidable as a living human, but of special concern to us as endurance athletes -- cycling on long roads, running trails and swimming in the open water - is the greater oxygen demand we face, which compounds normal cell damage.
Q: It seems like the trend these days for ¨during¨ drinks is low-glycemic is that just hype or what?
A: By definition, low glycemic means there is not a rush of sugar into the blood stream. Low- glycemic foods may work well during a ride if you are well below your threshold. This steady slow release of sugar into the blood stream may actually slow gastric emptying and cause both gastric distress AND dehydration. As your HR increases and you get further into your ride, your body needs glucose (normally it will take this glucose from stored glycogen). As your glycogen is depleted, you either feed the working muscles glucose directly from what’s in your blood. Or your body starts burning stored protein and fat. If you force your body to burn stored protein and fat, you will quickly diminish your exercise capacity and increase your lactic acid accumulation. You must feed your body glucose so it is quickly absorbed and quickly available in your blood stream to use as fuel. This is why we don’t recommend Ultragen early in your ride OR on long easy rides where your HR is well below threshold. In the latter part of a ride or an hour before a sprint finish or hill finish, Ultragen works like a dream. Not only is 100% of the sugar from glucose (dextrose), all the other ingredients including our low molecular weight proteins, glutamine, BCAA’s and electrolytes are designed to be digested very fast. So, not only are you getting the glucose you need, you are also replenishing all the other key nutrients that can diminish your capacity to exercise. And, because everything is digested so easily and quickly you don’t get gastric distress or that heavy feeling in your gut.
Try a serving of Ultragen with an hour to go on your next long ride and see how you feel on the home stretch.
For more detail on Glycemic index and what it means to endurance athletes, visit our Carbohydrate newsletter at: www.firstendurance.com/newsletter.html
Q: Do I need to use a shaker to mix Ultragen?
A: Ultragen is engineered using agglomeration technology making it spoon-mixable. The fact that Ultragen mixes so easily is a direct indication of absorption and digestibility. Basically it does the same thing in your stomach. Products that clump when mixing don’t digest well and can hinder both water and nutrient digestion.
Q: Is there a time when I should consume low-glycemic food?
A: Low glycemic is great as a pre-exercise meal, since it has the ability to stabilize blood sugar.
For more detail on Glycemic index and what it means to endurance athletes, visit our Carbohydrate newsletter at: www.firstendurance.com/newsletter.html
Q: Is Ultragen legal?
A: First Endurance is committed to developing the most advanced endurance supplements on the market. First Endurance has taken additional measures to assure that our products are safe legal and stimulant free. First Endurance supplements are legal to use in any sporting event.
For more information on Banned Substances, visit http://firstendurance.com/research/legal/
Q: How many servings are there in a container of Ultragen?
A: There are 15 servings in each container of Ultragen
Q: Can I take Ultragen during racing and training?
A: The proteins, glutamine, BCAA’s and electrolytes in Ultragen will fuel your body with what it needs so you can finish strong in long races. The high calories, high glycemic carbs, fast proteins and high levels of all 5 electrolytes make Ultragen the best ‘during’ drink on the market, even though it’s designed for post-recovery applications. Everything in Ultragen is absorbed super fast and hence very easily digested. Too many competitors try and develop complex carbohydrate mixes that have a number of different sugars and hence absorbed at different rates. Dextrose is the fastest absorbing sugar available. Ultragen has 100% dextrose as the carbohydrate source. You can drink the entire 12 ounces and not feel full during your ride.
We recommend you try taking a serving of Ultragen during the second half of your long workouts before using it in a race. I am confident you will be amazed at how much better you feel towards the end.
Q: Why Ultragen and not just food and water?
A: The mixture of certain foods timed appropriately will certainly help any endurance athlete recover better. We don’t refute this. And following one or two workouts, this is OK to do. However, when you demand that your body exercise hard day in and day out, food is simply not absorbed as fast as a well formulated recovery drink. Within a few weeks this becomes obvious. In addition trying to design a Food with clinically effective recovery nutrients like Branched Chain Amino Acids, Glutamine, Antioxidants, Electrolytes, Glucose and Isolated Proteins is nearly impossible. Food also does not offer straight Glucose or Isolate Whey Protein necessary for very fast absorption. This is no different than asking, ‘Why not just buy a bike with 6 Speeds for your race season?’ You can certainly race this way, and if strong enough maybe even podium, but with new technology you give yourself the best chance to race at your potential.
Q: Most riders are starting to get the message about the glycogen window and getting carbohydrates back into their system quickly. Is that the most important component of a recovery drink?
A: Yes, this is first and foremost. The entire endurance recovery process is based around replenishing what’s been lost during exercise. It should be every athlete’s goal NOT to deplete glycogen stores. Its starts first with staying as well fueled as possible during exercise, then topping it off immediately afterwards. Following long exhaustive exercise your cells are highly sensitive to ‘accepting’ nutrients. This is especially true the first 30 minutes following exercise, which has been defined as the ‘glycogen’ window. Choosing nutrients which are absorbed very fast allows you to take full advantage of this glycogen window. Glucose is the fastest carbohydrate absorbed, which is why Ultragen is designed with 60g of Glucose per serving.
Q: How does Ultragen rank on the glycemic index? Was that a design consideration?
A: Ultragen was designed to be absorbed as fast as possible, meaning it has a glycemic index nearing 100. That’s because 100% of the carbohydrates come from glucose-the highest glycemic sugar available. Adding fats, fiber, whole food proteins (Protein Concentrates) other slower absorbed nutrients only delays this process and slows absorption. Because of this, we designed Ultragen with small molecular weight proteins (Whey Protein Isolate and Hydrolyzed Whey Protein), free form amino acids and vitamins and minerals. You theoretically cannot design a product to be absorbed any faster.
Q: Research is also demonstrating the importance of proteins both during recovery and also during exercise. Can you explain the technology behind the protein design in Ultragen?
A: It was critical that we chose proteins with the best clinical research and performed the best during and immediately post exercise. Ultragen uses micro-filtered Ion exchange Isolated Whey Protein. This is a highly advanced form of protein which retains is superior amino acid profile and isolates only the proteins while minimizing carbohydrates or fats. The second protein used is a Hydrolyzed Whey Protein, which his enzymatically pre-digested, so its absorption is complete and immediate. There are various analytical tools developed to measure a protein’s effectiveness. These tools measure digestibility, amino acid profile, muscular growth and absorption giving a better picture of how Whey Protein stacks up to Soy, Rice protein, egg, caseine or nuts. A meta- analysis using the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS), Amino Acid Score, Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER), and Biological Value (BV) clearly shows Whey to be superior to other proteins. Ultragen delivers 20g of protein per serving exclusively from Whey Protein Isolate and Hydrolyzed Whey Protein assuring our athletes get the most technically advanced fastest proteins absorbed.
Q: Research has demonstrated that heavy endurance exercise tends to depress the immune function and lead to an increased risk of infection. How has Ultragen gone about addressing this issue?
A: This is the primary reason why you use a recovery drink and is the basis of the entire formula. Depleting your glycogen due to heavy endurance exercise also directly depletes Iron, Glutamine, Branched Chain Amino Acids, Electrolytes. This increases your cortisol levels which directly sup- press your testosterone. Athletes become catabolic (break down muscle) and store more fat. Your heart rate is elevated throughout the day and you don’t sleep well. The end result is overtraining syndrome a higher risk of infection. Your ability to remain healthy, rested and well fueled is the only way you can demand your body to improve its ability to handle higher levels of stress and longer endurance bouts. It is very clear that our athletes and customers who have committed themselves to technically advance nutrition, have benefited first and foremost with a healthier lifestyle. Preventing the depletion of Glycogen, Glutamine, Branched Chain Amino Acids, Electrolytes and, of course, water is the first step in improving your immune response. Ultragen is engineered with carbohydrates and proteins which are absorbed faster than anything else and because of this they can be absorbed fully during the 30-minute glycogen window
