Everyone Loves a Freebie

I've got some new energy products to try.  Ruth has subscribed to Outdoor Fitness magazine, and a selection of TORQ energy products came as a subscriber's freebie.  They sure look pretty:

I'm aiming for a 20 mile run on Sunday, so I might mix up 500ml of the energy drink and also take one of the energy gels and an energy bar.  Some of the flavours sound interesting, such as banoffee energy gel, or rhubarb and custard.  And the pineapple and ginger energy bar sounds very appealing.  As for sun dried banana, will I actually be able to tell that the banana has been dried by the sun, as opposed to dried in an oven?  I think the marketing people might have got carried away with that one.  I don't think anyone would have quibbled if it had simple been labelled as banana, but maybe I should wait until I've tried it.

TORQ claim to only use natural ingredients, which have been fairly-traded wherever possible.  They don't use colours, artificial sweeteners or preservatives, which all sounds good to me.  I can't get my head round why anyone would put artificial sweeteners into an energy product.  All I can say to that is, "derrrr! Does not compute!"

I'm always interested in how much energy you actually get from an energy bar or gel.  The TORQ gels deliver about 114 calories per 45g gel.  According to the packaging the gels have research proven 2:1 maltodextrin:fructose formulation for 40% greater carbohydrate delivery.  After a quick Internet search the cheapest TORQ gels I can find are £1.17 each.

The TORQ energy bars deliver about 146 calories per 45g bar.  The cheapest way to buy them would be to buy a box of 24 at £29.  So each bar would cost about £1.20 each.  Now, I've always wondered just how much better are these so called state of the art energy bars over the humble Mars bar.  A 62.5g Mars bar costs about 60p and delivers about 261 calories.  So half the price for almost twice the calories.  The biggest problem I see with a Mars bar is it's potential to melt on a hot summer's day.  But it has surely got to be a more economical way to carry energy on a run or bike ride, even if it doesn't have the perfect mix of sugars.  Anyone got any views on this?  Why should I part with my cash for a TORQ bar, or any other energy bar, instead of something I can pick up in any supermarket or corner shop?  

Whilst making a comparison, a Soreen banana loaf contains about 890 calories in a whole loaf, which also costs about the same as one energy bar or gel.  O.k. so I probably wouldn't munch on a banana loaf whilst running a half marathon or marathon, but it would be a perfectly acceptable source of nutrition and energy whilst taking part in an ultra marathon or long bike ride.  I do believe that a lot of the energy bars on the market are mostly clever marketing over substance, and many health conscious people are fooled into paying out a lot of money for something they don't actually need.  But I will keep an open mind when it comes to trying the TORQ products at the weekend.