Purendure Natural Energy Gel Review

Purendure Real Fruit Energy Gel Review

As an ultra runner, I’ve choked down more energy gels than I care to remember. Let's be honest, most of them are a necessary evil, functional but grim. You find one you can tolerate and you stick with it. So, when I first heard about Purendure natural energy gels, I was sceptical. Another "natural" gel promising the world? But I have to say, after giving their Banana and Mango flavours a proper test... I’m genuinely blown away!

Purendure sent me some gels to test during a recent local marathon and they were fantastic. But the first thing we have to talk about is the taste.

Is Purendure The Best Tasting Energy Gel?

These might just be the best tasting energy gels I have ever had (and trust me, my taste buds have seen some things 😅). This is not an exaggeration. The texture and flavour are less "gel" and more "mini breakfast smoothie". The Banana flavour is smooth and actually tastes like real banana (not the fake stuff), and the Mango is bright and tangy. There’s none of that synthetic aftertaste or sickly sweetness that plagues some other brands. It was a genuine pleasure to take these on board.

How Does It Taste So Good?

A quick look at the packet explains why they taste so good. Purendure gels only have four ingredients. That's it. They are 100% natural, vegan, and incredibly easy on the gut, I had zero issues during or after my marathon. Being UK-made is another nice bonus too!

The carb content is solid, the Mango flavour packs 25g of carbs and the Banana flavour has 22g which is inline with your standard SiS GO Isotonic energy gels.

Ingredients (Banana Flavour)

Banana Purée, Date Syrup, Salt, Lemon Juice From Concentrate.

Functionality

One of the first things you'll notice is the packaging. It has a screw top, which is brilliant. It’s incredibly easy to open, even with cold, wet hands or when you're breathing hard. No more tearing at a stubborn packet with your teeth or getting sticky gel all over your gloves.

Price-wise, at around £1.90 when not on offer, they fall somewhere in the low-middle ground for an 'all natural' gel which is pretty good, especially when you consider they're UK made too. But if you read on, they've sorted out a special discount for you to make them even cheaper! 😱

An Ultra Runner's Wishlist

To be honest, I don’t have anything negative to say about the gels. They’re superb! The brand seems to appeal to a wide range of sports (which is great), and for most sports the following points probably aren't relevant at all. However, from a long-distance and ultra running perspective, I do have a small wishlist. For those of us packing a vest for 50 or 100 miles, a few tweaks could make these perfect.

1. The Carb Count: Whilst 22g-25g of carbs is high for just four natural ingredients, if they could get this closer to 30g per gel it would make a massive difference. An extra 5-8g per gel might not sound like a lot, but when you compound that over a 50 miler or a 100k, it really adds up and would mean less weight and bulk to carry.
2. The Form Factor: The gels are shorter and wider than traditional energy gels. This actually makes them easier to hold and consume, but it makes fitting a day's worth of fuel into a running vest a bit tricky. If they could make them longer and thinner, I’d be able to fit a lot more in my pack. Of course, one option would be to use a reusable gel flask, which would easily overcome the packing conundrum and also mean I wouldn't have to worry about wrappers.

Like I say, these aren't criticisms, more minor suggestions from someone who lives out of a running vest! If Purendure were to release a "High-Carb" version, I think they’d be a strong contender for the perfect ultrarunning energy gel!

(And hey, Purendure, if you're reading this and ever fancy sending me some more gels to test out, I would welcome them with open arms! 🙏)

The Final Verdict: My New Go-To For Marathons and 50K!

That being said, as they are right now, these gels are fantastic! They will absolutely be my go-to fuel for marathon and 50K distances, and any long training runs where I'm not pushing the absolute limits of my vest's capacity.

I honestly never knew an energy gel could taste this good. I 100% recommend giving them a try and if you do, leave me a comment on Instagram and let me know what you think.

Purendure Discount Code

The kind people at Purendure have provided GB Ultra Runner with a fantastic discount so you can try them out for yourselves.

Use the code GBULTRA20 at checkout for 20% off your order!

Purendure Natural Energy Gel

Purendure Energy Gels - £1.91 per gel

Nutrition (Banana Flavour)