REVIEW: IsoWhey Sports Nutrition – Bike Magazine Australia

IsoWhey will ring a bell with readers who follow the professional peloton and Australian domestic racing: they are a naming-rights sponsor of the IsoWhey Sports Swisswellness pro cycling team. Further afield, IsoWhey also produce a separate line of weight-loss and nutritional supplements that you might find at your local chemist. The sports nutrition arm grew out of this business, but is true to the same ideals of healthy, research-based supplementation.

IsoWhey eschews artificial colours, flavours, sweeteners and added fructose – offering a premium range of nutrition products, with a smart array of well-considered supplements and energy foods. These work best for athletes looking to take a systematic approach to their nutrition and like to keep track of up-to-date research and contemporary trends.

But what else do IsoWhey have to offer the already immensely crowded sports nutrition marketplace? Bike put a bunch of IsoWhey Sports products through their paces over several weeks of riding and training. Here’s what we found…

IsoWhey Energy Bars

Available in chocolate and berry flavours, IsoWhey bars weigh in at 50g and fit flat and smooth in a jersey pocket. Gluten free, and with a bunch of ‘superfood’ ingredients like goji berries and chia in the mix, as well as other nuts and seeds, they’re a more natural and wholesome source of nutrition than a lot of sports bars out there.

They are made with brown rice syrup – a fructose-free sweetener that is effectively made up of glucose – which will be welcomed by increasing numbers of health-minded individuals looking to limit the amount of fructose in their diets. With 10 grams of protein, these bars have a pretty high protein content for an on-bike ‘energy’ food. They also contain 8 grams of fat, most of it from natural ingredients like sunflower seeds and pepitas.

The bars have a moreish, chewy consistency and best of all they don’t taste overpoweringly sweet. In fact, the berry bars had a slight hint of tartness, while the chocolate version gives a touch of bitter cocoa – both of which were a pleasant departure from the usual cloying flavours of most sports nutrition. Out riding, their 20 grams of carbohydrate and ingredient mix did a good job providing a sustained energy release. For those looking to participate in endurance events like long sportives, though, it might be worth remembering that a lot of competitors’ bars will offer about 30 per cent more carbs and that’s your main fuel out there.

RRP: Box of 12, $41.50 AUD