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Discover our energy gels 🇦🇺 Free shipping in Australia on orders over $220
The carbohydrate inside every UCAN product
How LIVSTEADY Works
Read this before your next long run. LIVSTEADY behaves differently from the maltodextrin and fructose in a standard gel. One serve releases across 75 minutes or more instead of twenty. You carry less, you fuel less often, and your gut has less to deal with at 32km.
- Non-GMO corn starch
- 75+ minutes per serve
- 0g sugar
- Low osmolality
- In every UCAN product
What LIVSTEADY actually is
LIVSTEADY starts as non-GMO corn starch. UCAN cooks it slowly with heat and moisture, over a long cycle, with no chemicals and no enzymes. The cooking rearranges the starch into a complex polysaccharide of 500,000 to 700,000 g/mol.
A bigger molecule takes your body longer to break apart. That is where the slow release comes from, and it is the whole reason UCAN products work on a different schedule from everything else on the shelf.
No sugar, no caffeine. The same ingredient sits in the gels, the powder and the protein, at different doses for different jobs.
Three gels instead of nine
Run a four hour marathon on sugar gels and you carry eight to ten of them, taking one every 25 minutes. On Edge you carry three. Same race, side by side.
| Over a 4 hour marathon | Maltodextrin or fructose gel | UCAN with LIVSTEADY |
|---|---|---|
| Energy per serve | 20 to 30 minutes | 75+ minutes |
| Serves you carry | 8 to 10 | 3 |
| Sugar per serve | 18 to 25g | 0g |
| Water needed to take it | High | Low |
| Molecule size | Short chain | 500,000 to 700,000 g/mol |
| Alarms on your watch | Every 25 minutes | Every 75 minutes |
Why athletes notice it first in the stomach
Concentrated sugar gels pull water into your gut to dilute them. That is the sloshing, and at 30km it is what sends people looking for a portaloo. LIVSTEADY sits at low osmolality, so it clears the stomach with very little water behind it.
The same thing decides an Ironman bike leg. Five or six hours of sugar concentrate is a lot to ask of a gut already under load, and most fuelling plans that fall apart on race day fall apart there rather than in the legs.
75+
Minutes per serve
One Edge pouch holds 15g of LIVSTEADY. Take it, keep running. You are not topping up before you have finished the last one.
Low
Osmolality
Thin liquid texture, no water needed to get it down. Easier to swallow at pace than a thick sugar gel, and less volume moving around afterwards.
3
Gels, not nine
Fewer wrappers in your shorts and fewer decisions at 32km, when your brain has stopped making good ones.
How to take it
Build the session around one serve before, and one every 75 minutes after.
30 to 45 minutes before
One scoop of Energy Powder in cold water. This is your base layer, and it is working before you cross the start line.
Every 75 minutes on course
One Edge pouch. Thin liquid texture, no water needed. Three pouches covers a four hour marathon.
Throughout, and after
Hydrate replaces what you sweat out. Energy + Protein goes in within the hour once you stop.
Test the protocol on two long runs before you race it. Nobody should meet a new fuel for the first time on a start line.
Three peer reviewed studies, published in full
Trained cyclists at the University of Oklahoma, trained runners over a three hour treadmill protocol, and varsity footballers at Western University. Journal, year, method and the full paper for each one, including the sample sizes and who funded what.
Read the researchWhich product to start with
Same carbohydrate, four jobs. Most runners start with a box of Edge and add the powder once they trust it.
Edge Energy Gels
15g of LIVSTEADY per pouch. What you carry on course.
Shop gels →
Energy Powder
The pre-session base layer. Mix cold, drink 30 minutes out.
Shop powder →
Hydrate Electrolytes
Five electrolytes, zero sugar. Runs alongside your fuel.
Shop electrolytes →
Energy + Protein
LIVSTEADY plus protein, for the hour after you stop.
Shop protein →Questions athletes ask
Is LIVSTEADY the same thing as SuperStarch?
Yes. UCAN renamed the ingredient. Same carbohydrate, same patented cooking process. Older packs and older articles use the previous name.
Does LIVSTEADY contain sugar?
No. Edge, Energy Powder and Hydrate carry zero sugar. Check the nutrition panel on each product page for the full declaration against the Australian pack.
How is it different from the maltodextrin in most gels?
Molecule size and release rate. Maltodextrin is a short chain carbohydrate your body breaks down quickly, which is why a standard gel gives you 20 to 30 minutes. LIVSTEADY is a much larger molecule, so it releases across 75 minutes or more from a single pouch.
Will it upset my stomach?
Most athletes find it easier than a sugar gel because it needs very little water to clear the stomach. Everybody's gut is different, so run it on two long sessions before you take it into a race.
Is LIVSTEADY suitable for tested athletes?
Edge is a formulated supplementary sports food with no banned substances in the formula. It does not carry Informed Sport or HASTA certification. If you compete under a testing programme, check the current batch with your federation before you race it.
How much do I take for a marathon?
One scoop of Energy Powder 30 to 45 minutes before the start, then one Edge pouch roughly every 75 minutes. A four hour marathon takes three pouches. Add Hydrate through the race if you are a heavy sweater or the day is warm.
This food is a formulated supplementary sports food and is not a sole source of nutrition. It should be used in conjunction with an appropriate physical training or exercise programme and consumed in conjunction with a nutritious diet. Not suitable for children under 15 years of age or pregnant women.