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CNP Professional Pro Hydrate

6
£10.85

VERDICT:

6
10
A good tasting and easy to mix carbohydrate drink from a growing player in the sports nutrition market; the jury is out on the high taurine content and it is a guaranteed bottle stainer
Weight: 
500g
Contact: 
cnpprofessional.co.uk

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CNP Pro Hydrate comes from an extensive range of cycling appropriate products, affiliations with both Team Sky and British Cycling plus a host of domestic teams having certainly pushed things along for the brand recently.

The Pro Hydrate comes in 500g containers for £11.39 a go. That gives you 12 servings, each one of which mixes with 500ml of water. To save you doing the maths, that works out at roughly 95p for each 500ml. That's more expensive than SiS or Powerbar products, for example, but there is a lot to like about Pro Hydrate.

For a start, it's easy to mix and the taste certainly shouldn't offend most people; in fact, to my tastebuds it is better flavour than most. There is lots to like about the product. It's easy to mix and the taste certainly shouldn't offend most people. It's not overly sweet which is really important when you're operating at a high intensity or drinking all day on long rides. If the flavour overpowers your ability to consume the drink, you are never going to get much benefit.

I used Pro Hydrate mainly over a training camp in Majorca. It was certainly a very useful survival tool and I was happy to keep drinking it despite downing multiple litres during the week. My bottles are now all dyed orange but that isn't uncommon for energy drinks.

Pro Hydrate is hypotonic meaning that the fluid and carbs are very quickly and easily absorbed by your body. Both sodium and potassium are essentials for the body when training, especially in the heat, but you can find larger doses of both of these plus calcium and magnesium in the very popular GO from SiS. To be honest, though, that is probably splitting hairs. 

Ask any nutrition expert and, from my experience, they will say that hitting your correct intake level is more important than the detail of carb composition (see below for the details). Pro Hydrate's carb content is 100% maltodextrin, a classic ingredient for sports drinks. I do have one gripe with the ingredients list. Unlike most carbohydrate drinks aimed at endurance sports, CNP Pro Hydrate contains a very high amount of added taurine.

First extracted from bull's bile, taurine is now mass manufactured and is a key component to energy drinks like Red Bull. CNP say that, 'Taurine has been added for increased hydration and to promote blood flow which will combat muscle tiredness'.

At 7.5g of taurine per 500ml serving, Pro Hydrate has 7.5 times more taurine in it than a can of Red Bull. A quick bit of investigative journalism would reveal that the jury is still out on the benefits/dangers of excessive taurine content. Just be aware that it is there and perhaps make up your own mind.

Each serving of Pro Hydrate contains 7.4g of protein. Other energy drinks with protein in them, such as 4:1 from High5, use whey for the protein source which gives a very different texture.

Verdict

A good tasting and easy to mix carbohydrate drink from a growing player in the sports nutrition market; the jury is out on the high taurine content and it is a guaranteed bottle stainer

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road.cc test report

Make and model: CNP Professional ProHydrate

Size tested: Hypotonic Drink

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

As CNP say, "Pro Hydrate is a complex carbohydrate drink which will provide sustained energy for exercise plus electrolytes to replace lost salts and improve hydration."

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Per 2 scoops (40.5g) made with 500ml water

Kcalories 141

Protein 7.4g

Carbohydrates 27.9g

of which sugars 0.0g

Fat 0.0g

of which saturates 0.0g

Fibre 0.0g

Sodium 0.17g

Rate the product for performance:
 
7/10
Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The taste; not too sweet or overpowering which means I drank plenty of it.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

I'm personally unsure on the high taurine content. Would like to see more research before I adopt it fully.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? No

Would you recommend the product to a friend? No

Overall rating: 6/10

About the tester

Age: 23  Height: 5ft 11in Weight: 78kg

I usually ride: Canyon Ultimate CF  My best bike is: Canyon LUX MR/ Grand Canyon CF

I've been riding for: 5-10 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Semi pro

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, time trialling, mtb,

 

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