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This fruit-based energy gel, once touted for its high-carb intake and low volume, contains about a third of calories than advertised, multiple independent nutritional analyses suggest

For the past 10 years, Spring Energy has provided endurance athletes with energy gels, and more recently drink mixes, made from “real” foods. Athletes looking for wholesome alternatives to more traditional sugar-based gels made in a lab have flocked to Spring’s smoothie-like gels made with fruit and basmati rice.

While Spring products are more expensive than many gels, many athletes have found the tradeoff for high-quality, real food fuel that goes down easily on the run to be worth it. Until now.

After skepticism about the actual contents of Spring’s gels began brewing late last year, it turned into a full-blown controversy this week.

In January 2021, Spring Energy released a game-changing gel, Awesome Sauce. In collaboration with coaches and runners Megan and David Roche (who taste-tested and named the flavor), the applesauce, basmati rice, and sweet potato-based gel was designed to provide endurance athletes with a whopping 180 calories per 54 gram packet.

This high-carb alternative became especially enticing when a study was published in April 2022 reporting that ultrarunners should consume 240 to 360 calories (60-90 grams of carbohydrates) per hour. It’s no surprise that Awesome Sauce (sold at $5 a gel), with its small but surprisingly mighty nutritional content, initially flew off the shelves. It seemed too good to be true.

After several third-party lab tests, that appears to be the case.

In late 2023, runners took to Reddit to discuss their doubts in Awesome Sauce’s nutritional facts, which were printed on the packaging and stated on Spring Energy’s website. Though it’s unclear who first performed a concrete test on the gel, two months ago, Liza Ershova, a Reddit user who uses the username “sriirachamayo”, posted in a thread called “False nutritional info on Spring Energy gels.” Ershova allegedly performed a test “in an environmental chemistry lab” and found that the dry weight of Awesome Sauce is 16g instead of the stated 45. She hypothesized that, “If all of those grams are carbs, that corresponds to about 60 calories, not 180.”

On May 17, German endurance sport speciality shop Sports Hunger released a video stating that they, too, had Awesome Sauce gels tested by a third party, and allegedly found that each packet contains 16g of carbs instead of the 45g that Spring Energy claimed.

“The maker of Spring Energy assures us that they will rework their manufacturing process to ensure that they will again reliably achieve their high numbers that they declare to have,” a Sports Hunger representative says in the video. “We hope that this is really going to happen because we believe that natural food for many of our customers is a great alternative to the regular gels.”

On May 28, ultrarunning coach Jason Koop, who coaches elite athletes sponsored by Spring Energy, posted an Instagram Reel saying that he’d paid for Spring Energy Awesome Sauce to be tested by a third party, RL Food Laboratory Testing in Ferndale, Washington. The results showed that the gels tested contained 76 calories and 18g of carbs. The lab results can be found on Koop’s website. Koop declined to be interviewed for this article.

Other runners have also come forward after attempting to replicate the gels with varying degrees of Awesome Sauce’s ingredients: organic basmati rice, organic apple sauce, apple juice, yams, maple syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, sea salt, and cinnamon—and could not achieve the gel’s original volume of 54g. Their experiments suggest that it’s impossible to fit all of those ingredients into the small Awesome Sauce package while achieving the stated nutritional content.

On May 22, the Ershova shared Spring Energy’s response to their experiment on Reddit: “Our analysis supports the accuracy of our product labeling. However, we will reevaluate to make sure our data is accurate. Although we hoped your experience with our products would have been wholly satisfactory, we recognize that individual needs can vary. Given the wide variety of options available across different brands, we are confident you will find the right product that suits your specific requirements.”

Four days later, on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, Spring Energy sent out an email to newsletter subscribers stating:

“In early May we submitted Awesome Sauce for third-party caloric and biomolecular analysis. Although the results indicated that on average our products deliver the designed nutrition value, we have recognized weaknesses in our processes and ingredients which can introduce unwanted variations in some batches.To mitigate those variations in our small batch production, we decided to modify some of the formulations, revise and innovate processes, and re-evaluate ingredient sources. These changes will bring higher quality and more consistency to our products. Enhancements of our products aimed to stabilize their nutrition values are on the horizon, and within the next few weeks, you’ll see the results of our efforts. A new and improved version of Awesome Sauce will soon be available.”

The internet outrage ballooned swiftly.

“‘On average’ – if someone has a beat on where I can grab packets of Awesome Sauce at 75g of carb per pack to allow for the average of their product to be 45g overall, hit my inbox,” @aidstationfireball posted on X. “Excited to taste the new, re-formulated, $7 gels they’ll replace these with.”

David and Megan Roche, the Boulder, Colorado-based running coach couple who collaborated with Spring Energy on Awesome Sauce, discussed the backlash on their podcast. They weren’t involved in the chemical composition and makeup of the gel, they claimed. Rather, they simply proposed the concept of a high-carb gel to their friend Rafal Nazarewicz, the founder and CEO of Spring Energy. They stated they understand the public’s outrage, and Megan added that they “didn’t really use it” during their runs because she didn’t feel that her body was responding to the energy it was supposed to provide.

In addition, the Roches stated on their podcast that they have quietly harbored concerns about Awesome Sauce for years, and while they did not explicitly tell their athletes not to use it, they made a point of promoting other gels instead. (The Roches currently have a financial partnership with The Feed, the online warehouse that sells a wide variety of sports fuel, including Spring Energy.)

David elaborated in a lengthy Instagram post on May 29: “It’s sad and infuriating that the nutrition was wrong, and we are thankful to the really smart people who figured it out on Reddit (including an athlete we coach who started the initial thread). When we described concerns to Spring, we were assured that the nutrition was correct and they followed all FDA regulations. We left the Spring sponsorship years ago, and we never received compensation for proposing the name/doing taste testing (outside of the $200 per month that we both received during the sponsorship). Since then, we have publicly directed athletes to other options for high-carb fueling, while hoping to be a source of love and support in the community. Our podcast covered our concerns as soon as the German lab testing indicated that we wouldn’t be risking making defamatory statements about a business without substantial evidence.”

While concerns around Awesome Sauce instigated this investigation, it’s not the only flavor under scrutiny. Koop sent additional Spring Energy gels, Canaberry (named after professional ultrarunner Sage Canaday) and Hill Aid, to the lab for testing. The results indicated that both of these flavors also contain fewer calories than stated on their nutrition labels.

The lab results showed that the batch of Canaberry that was tested contains 10g of carbs (versus the stated 17g), and the Hill Aid sample contains 10g of carbs (versus the stated 20g).

Koop also paid for Gu Chocolate Outrage to be tested. The results were consistent with the nutrition facts. All three of these reports can also be found on Koop’s website.

These vast discrepancies between Spring Energy’s reported nutrition facts and the lab results raise the question: which gels can be trusted?

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA), most running gels fall under the category of “dietary supplements”, which don’t have to be approved before being sold. However, the FDA requires that all dietary supplements have nutrition information clearly marked on a product’s packaging (including serving size, number of servings, and ingredients) and periodically inspects manufacturing facilities to confirm that products meet the labeling requirements. The FDA also reviews product labels for accuracy.

“Dietary supplements are regulated by the FDA, but much of our role begins after products enter the marketplace. In fact, in many cases, companies can produce and sell dietary supplements without even notifying the FDA,” the FDA states on their website.

The FDA allows nutrition labels to have an inaccuracy margin of up to 20 percent—for reference, based on multiple lab results, Awesome Sauce’s caloric content is about 57 percent less than what the label says.

Sports psychologist and ultrarunning coach Krista Austin works with some of the top endurance athletes in the world, and is best known for training Meb Keflezighi to  his 2009 New York City Marathon win. She recommends several products out on the market to her ultrarunner athletes, as well as suggestions that might work with a person’s individual plan. Typically, she suggests that athletes rotate gel flavors to avoid flavor fatigue, which can impact an athlete mentally and derail performance. So if a certain brand is proven to work well for an athlete, she says, use a variety of flavors.

“I usually use high molecular weight carbohydrates, but the thing is, they’re not as sweet as other sports nutrition products out there,” says Austin, who owns a consulting business providing sport performance services to Olympic and professional athletes as well as military and industry personnel. “So what we’ll do is we might throw in another gel like the Awesome Sauce to help give them that sweet component. It’s just in their arsenal.”

She says, in general, her athletes who have consumed Awesome Sauce have had positive experiences, but that because these gels were just one part of the fuel plan, that muddies the waters a bit. In addition, the potential lower calorie count of this gel may make it easier to digest. However, Austin recalls that one of her clients was taking in one Spring Energy gel (multiple flavors) every hour in her ultra, but found herself so hungry that she needed to eat a lot of the food provided at aid stations on the course, too.

“She was a smaller ultrarunner, and I thought it was interesting that she was taking in all these calories,” Austin says. “She was using Spring Energy gels, and I now I’m thinking, ‘Maybe this is why she needed all the additional food on the course, too, because she wasn’t getting what we thought she was.’”

Ultramarathon dietician Julie Shobe is surprised and disappointed in the news about Awesome Sauce. “My clients and myself bank on the efficiency of the gel being easy and light to carry,” she says. “Underfueling within a long run can create acute symptoms like low energy, nausea, or brain fog. Ultrarunners find themselves in dangerous situations on long runs and races, and are often in remote areas, so unintentionally underfueling could have negative consequences.”

Austin says runners can still rely on information they’re receiving about endurance fuel, but that it’s always possible there are, as Spring Energy suggests, bad batches. She’s leaning toward this being the reason for the nutritional inaccuracies (keeping an open mind that more information can come out) because she’s had experiences with bad batches of gels in the past, where the product tasted off and she brought it to the attention of the brand, who confirmed it was an error on their part.

By May 30, Spring Energy had removed Awesome Sauce from its website, although it can still be purchased in the All Inclusive and Vegan Spring sampler packs. There, Awesome Sauce is described as, “our best-seller, has been created for all carb lovers who want to fuel in a healthy way, with wholesome products free of added sugars!”

Nashville Running Company owner Lee Wilson has made the decision to take Awesome Sauce,  Canaberry, and Hill Aid off store shelves. “It came down to the integrity of it,” Wilson says. “After the other flavors came out with the test results, we decided we can’t sell it.”

Nashville Running Company crew member Eric May added that this whole ordeal is disappointing, especially because the gel was so popular in the community.

“We used to have people come in when we got shipments and walk out with boxes of them,” May says. “It’s a bummer.”

He adds that a few customers have remarked that they still really enjoy Awesome Sauce and will keep using it.

“How a company reacts to the issue tells you a lot about them, and the fact that they’ve taken down their product, it means they’re probably doing their homework to see what’s going on,” Austin says. “I would say, give them a chance to rectify the situation.”

Sabrina Stanley, a pro ultrarunner from Silverton, Colorado, has used Awesome Sauce frequently in the past, but says she stopped eating it when she felt she was taking in three times what she should be consuming to keep hunger at bay. She adds that though it’s a huge disappointment that athletes thought they were buying a gel under the impression it was a different product, the company is the only party at fault.

“Professional athletes aren’t responsible for making sure the nutrition label is correct,” Stanley says. “They are often sub-contracted to give opinions and help promote a product in hopes of making a few extra dollar to continue doing what they love. They aren’t in the lab developing the product and writing the nutrition label, like the consumers, they are trusting the hired them to do their due diligence.”

On May 29, Spring Energy released an official statement on its Instagram, with Nazarewicz saying they’ve identified weaknesses in the manufacturing process, and that only some batches were accidentally made with varying nutritional values. Nazarewicz apologized and stated Spring Energy is introducing changes to its process and hopes to continue its mission toward making real food performance products.

“Spring Energy has admitted to inconsistencies in their product and also said in a recent IG post this was not intentional or malicious,” Shobe says. “However, to be this far off from your stated nutrition label deserves some major inspection. The whole thing made me question not only the integrity of their products but the nutritional labels of other products. Why, as a dietician, didn’t I become more suspicious of Awesome Sauce in the first place?”

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden delivered a sensational performance in Budapest, storming to victory in the women’s 100m at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in a breathtaking 10.62 seconds.

The American produced a superb display of acceleration and composure to claim the World Ultimate Championship title while recording the fastest women’s 100m time in the world this year. Her 10.62 mark underlined her exceptional form and placed her firmly at the top of the global sprinting hierarchy.

Jefferson-Wooden controlled the race through the decisive stages and maintained her form all the way to the finish to secure a statement victory against a field packed with championship pedigree. She crossed the line ahead of Olympic champion Julien Alfred, who clocked 10.74 seconds with a -0.2 m/s wind, while Sha’Carri Richardson took third in 10.76.

Women’s 100m Final

1. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden — 10.62

2. Julien Alfred — 10.74 (-0.2 m/s)

3. Sha’Carri Richardson — 10.76

The victory was especially significant given the quality of the opposition. Jefferson-Wooden held her nerve against Alfred and Richardson, two of the most accomplished sprinters of the current generation, to produce the fastest performance in the world this year when it mattered most.

Alfred once again demonstrated her consistency at the highest level by taking silver, while Richardson completed an all-star podium in a race that brought together three of the biggest names in women’s sprinting.

But beyond the time, the title and the celebration, one of the most touching moments came after the race when Jefferson-Wooden embraced her father, Melvin, in an emotional celebration.

Their moment carried a deeply personal meaning. When Melissa was just 17 years old, she donated her stem cells to help her father undergo a bone marrow transplant after he was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome. Years later, the two shared an unforgettable embrace in Budapest after she had become the World Ultimate Champion.

For Jefferson-Wooden, however, the evening was about far more than a medal. It was the culmination of an extraordinary journey, now highlighted by a world-leading 10.62 seconds on one of the biggest stages in athletics.

With the Ultimate Championship title secured and her father by her side, Jefferson-Wooden leaves Budapest with more than being an ultimate champion. She leaves with momentum, confidence and a powerful statement of intent — turning a high-profile showdown into one of the defining sprint performances of her season.

Audrey Werro has added another major title to her extraordinary season, storming to victory in the women’s 800m at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest.

The Swiss star delivered a commanding performance, taking control from the opening gun and refusing to surrender the lead as she powered through an absorbing battle against two of the biggest names in the event.

Werro stopped the clock at 1:55.88 to become the Ultimate Championships 800m champion, producing another statement performance on one of the sport’s newest and most prestigious stages.

Behind her, Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson fought her way to second in 1:56.26, while the Netherlands’ Femke Broeders-Bol completed the podium in 1:56.74.

The result once again brought together the same formidable trio that featured on the podium at the European Championships, but Werro again proved to be the athlete who could rise above the challenge when it mattered most.

Her Budapest triumph is the latest chapter in a season that has already included records, a successful Diamond League Trophy defence and European Championship gold. Now, she can add the Ultimate Championships crown to a growing list of accomplishments.

Werro’s consistency has been particularly impressive in an 800m event packed with elite talent. Rather than simply relying on a fast finish, the Swiss athlete showed her authority by taking the initiative from the beginning and maintaining enough strength and composure to hold off Hodgkinson and Broeders-Bol all the way to the line.

The victory also underlined the remarkable depth of the women’s 800m, with three athletes separated by less than a second at the finish. Hodgkinson’s 1:56.26 and Broeders-Bol’s 1:56.74 showed just how fiercely contested the race was, but Werro’s decision to dictate the pace ultimately gave her the decisive advantage.

For Werro, this was more than another medal. It was another opportunity to demonstrate that her rise is no passing moment. On a stage featuring established champions and elite rivals, she once again produced the performance required to claim the biggest prize.

For Hodgkinson, the silver medal adds another major podium finish, while Broeders-Bol once again demonstrated her ability to compete with the very best over two laps.

But the spotlight in Budapest belonged unmistakably to Werro.

With another championship crown secured, the Swiss star has strengthened her claim as the athlete setting the standard in women’s 800m running. This is Audrey Werro’s era — and the rest of the field is chasing.

Busang Collen Kebinatshipi has delivered another sensational performance, storming to victory in the men’s 400m at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.

The reigning world champion stopped the clock at an astonishing 43.39 seconds, smashing his own Botswana national record and moving to fifth on the world all-time list.

Kebinatshipi produced a commanding finish to pull away from his rivals and secure the Ultimate Championship title. American star Rai Benjamin finished second in 44.15, while Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago completed the podium in 44.23.

 Men’s 400m

1. Busang Collen Kebinatshipi — 43.39 NR

2. Rai Benjamin — 44.15

3. Jereem Richards — 44.23

The performance is even more remarkable considering that Kebinatshipi had already rewritten the Botswana record just one week ago in Brussels, where he ran 43.40. In Budapest, he lowered that mark by another 0.01 seconds to establish a new national record of 43.39.

That improvement has also propelled the 22-year-old into rare territory. His latest time now ranks him fifth fastest in history over 400m, placing him among an extraordinary group of athletes who have broken the 43.40 barrier.

Kebinatshipi's victory also caps an extraordinary season for the Botswana star. After establishing himself as a global champion, he has continued to demonstrate that he belongs among the very best one-lap runners in the world.

And there is a major reward for his historic night in Budapest: Kebinatshipi walks away as the Ultimate Champion and $150,000 richer.

From another national record to a place among the five fastest 400m runners ever, Kebinatshipi has turned an already remarkable season into something truly special.

Botswana has its latest sprinting superstar — and Kebinatshipi is showing that his ceiling may be even higher than anyone imagined. 

Marileidy Paulino once again proved why she is the undisputed queen of the one-lap event, powering to victory in the women’s 400m at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.

The Dominican Republic superstar produced a sensational 49.07 seconds to claim gold, pulling decisively away in the final straight and holding off a fiercely competitive field to extend her remarkable unbeaten run.

Paulino delivered her trademark combination of controlled speed and devastating finishing strength. She remained firmly in contention through the opening stages before unleashing her decisive move down the home straight, where she quickly opened a gap on her closest challengers.

Norway’s Henriette Jæger mounted a strong challenge but could not match Paulino’s finishing speed, crossing the line second in an impressive 49.28. Jamaica’s Nickisha Pryce completed the podium after clocking 49.56, ensuring that three of the world’s leading 400m talents occupied the medals.

The result once again underlined Paulino’s extraordinary consistency at the highest level. She entered Budapest as the world leader after running 48.48 in Paris in June, a performance that also set a Diamond League record. She subsequently remained unbeaten throughout her Diamond League campaign, closing the circuit with a meeting-record 48.64 in Brussels.

Budapest has also become a special venue in Paulino’s career. Three years ago, at the same National Athletics Centre, she captured her first individual world title, marking the beginning of another dominant chapter in her career. She later added Olympic gold in Paris in 2024, further establishing herself among the defining 400m athletes of her generation.

The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship has brought together the sport’s biggest stars in a new winner-takes-the-spotlight format, with Olympic and world champions, Diamond League winners and leading performers competing for ultimate honours.

For Paulino, the occasion once again ended with Ultimate Crown on her arms.

With 49.07 seconds, she did more than win another major 400m title. She delivered another statement of authority, powering through the final straight with the confidence and speed that have made her one of the most dominant figures in modern women’s athletics.

Marileidy Paulino remains unbeaten, remains relentless and, once again, remains the queen of the one lap.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen has made a major decision regarding the remainder of his World Athletics Ultimate Championship campaign, confirming that he will withdraw from the men’s 1500m in Budapest despite producing a sensational performance to win the 5,000m title.

The Norwegian superstar stormed to victory in the inaugural Ultimate Championship 5,000m on Friday night, clocking a season-best 12:59.24 and delivering a devastating finishing kick to defeat Olympic 5,000m champion Cole Hocker and American Parker Wolfe.

Ingebrigtsen’s final 100 metres was arguably the defining moment of the race. The Olympic champion produced a remarkable 12.60-second closing 100m, powering away from the field to secure the $150,000 winner’s prize and underline just how far his fitness has progressed since returning from Achilles surgery.

The victory was particularly significant after what has been an extremely difficult period for the 25-year-old. Earlier in the season, Ingebrigtsen faced serious uncertainty over whether he would even be able to compete at the highest level again. His return has gradually gathered momentum, and his performance in Budapest offered perhaps the clearest indication yet that the Norwegian is rediscovering his formidable racing ability.

But rather than risk pushing his recovering body further, Ingebrigtsen has now opted to step away from the 1500m.

The decision means the highly anticipated showdown with British rival Josh Kerr will not take place in Budapest after all. The two stars had been expected to renew one of the biggest rivalries in modern middle-distance running in the 1500m final.

Instead, Ingebrigtsen is looking beyond the immediate opportunity and towards the bigger picture.

“I’m thinking about 2027… Fitness cannot be faked,” the Norwegian said, signalling that protecting his long-term condition has become more important than chasing another major victory only days after his return to peak-level competition.

The decision comes just one week after an emotionally charged Diamond League Final in Brussels, where Ingebrigtsen finished fourth in the 1500m behind Australia’s Cameron Myers, Kenya’s Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech and American Ethan Strand.

After that race, Ingebrigtsen delivered a fiery assessment of his rivals and questioned the tactics surrounding the pacemaking, particularly involving Hocker. He later acknowledged that there had been “a little too much adrenaline and emotion” when microphones were placed in front of him immediately after the race.

Yet his latest decision shows that beneath the emotion and competitive intensity lies a longer-term strategy.

Ingebrigtsen has already demonstrated that he can compete at an elite level again. His 12:59.24 in Budapest was not simply a victory — it was a statement that the Norwegian remains capable of producing a world-class finish even after months of injury rehabilitation.

Now, however, he is choosing not to gamble with that progress.

For a runner who has spent much of the year fighting his way back from injury, another 1500m race could have offered enormous rewards but also carried unnecessary risk. By withdrawing, Ingebrigtsen is effectively prioritising longevity over one more opportunity for immediate glory.

His message is clear: the comeback is underway, but it will not be rushed.

The 5,000m victory has given Ingebrigtsen confidence, momentum and perhaps, most importantly, proof that his body can once again handle elite competition.

Now comes the harder part — knowing when to stop.

With 2027 already firmly in his sights, the Norwegian has chosen recovery over risk. And after everything he has endured, that could ultimately prove to be one of the most important decisions of his comeback.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is not walking away from the sport. He is protecting his future in it.