Santa Madre: Unusual Bar 50-CHO

In this article: review and opinion of the Santa Madre Unusual Bar 50CHO Ratio 1:1.

UNUSUAL BAR 50CHO RATIO 1:1 is a unique bar on the market worldwide, designed to be taken during exercise, giving the athlete 50 g of carbohydrate in just 65 g of product with the famous 1:1 ratio that the brand boasts in its most advanced products.

Its composition is based on puffed rice with a fat content of less than 5%, which makes it an extremely clean bar in terms of carbohydrates and easy to chew, dissolve and digest.

We have tested it and in this analysis we tell you our experience, but before going into detail, let’s contextualize the state of sports nutrition today.

Hydrates and endurance sports

Science has strongly intervened in the sports nutrition market and is setting the guideline to follow. Carbohydrate has positioned itself as the king in these sports, proving a total correlation between its intake, performance and recovery.

It is more than clear today that, in efforts of more than 3h demanding, the more carbohydrate we consume during the same, the more performance we will have and the less muscle damage we will generate, improving the post-exertion recovery. The red line now lies in the body’s capacity to absorb these sugars.

Santa Madre and Ratio 1:1

As we have already seen in our review of energy drinks, Santa Madre has stood out for the innovation of providing a 1:1 ratio in carbohydrate intake. This gives more prominence to the GLUT5 transporter (fructose). Until now it was believed that it saturated at 30 g/h, but it is capable of absorbing more load, being able to assimilate more carbohydrates and together with the GLUT1 transporter (glucose and galactose) to overcome the barrier of 110 g of carbohydrate per hour.

It should be noted that in order to reach nutritional strategies of high amounts of carbohydrates it is essential to have an adaptive process and to get the digestive system used to work during the effort (digestive training). It has been proven that GLUT5 improves considerably with stimuli, increasing its workload.

Unusual Bar 50CHO Ratio 1:1

Santa Madre’s development team has been working for more than a year on this bar to develop a unique product, following the characteristics of the 1:1 Ratio. Formulated for maximum digestive and metabolic efficiency, it is optimal for its intake in times of effort, for its easy chewing and assimilation, being ideal for long-distance tests and training with demanding nutritional strategies.

Outstanding characteristics:

• 50 g of carbohydrate in only 65 g of product.
• 3 g of fat per bar, less than 5% fat (from coconut).
• 1:1 ratio already known within the brand.
• Easy to chew and digest, ideal for taking during exercise.

On route

In our tests we have not had any digestive problems with it, and that we are not used to the intake of high amounts of carbohydrates.

It is very easy to chew and when 10-20 minutes pass we feel full, starting a sustained energy intake with which we can pedal without problems for hours, combining it with the hydration powders in our water bottle.

It is a product that we have loved for how easy it is to carry and the high amount of carbohydrates it provides. In combination with hydration powders and some caffeine gel, we can face 3-4 hour routes without problems at intense rhythms. It will also help us to design advanced nutrition strategies if we compete in endurance competitions.

In short, a perfect tool to get started in strategies for consuming large amounts of carbohydrates per hour. We assure you that it makes a difference.

Any questions? Find me on Instagram: @llargobike