If you are a real athlete, you also need the right nutrition. This applies to gamers as well. Runtime offers alternatives to pizza and chips with “Nextlevel Meals” and “Performance Drinks”. We tested what eSports nutrition can do.
Those who play professionally must also pay attention to what they eat. eSports athletes generally have a similar diet to “real” athletes. This ensures that they are in peak condition and can improve their reaction times.
The typical “nerd food” is unsuitable for this purpose. Pizza, chips, and soft drinks make you sluggish and negatively affect performance in the long term. As a professional gamer, you should therefore avoid such things.
The company Runtime from Berlin has developed a powdered food especially for eSports athletes, students, and anyone who needs to perform consistently.
The special thing: The products contain no conventional sugar, but isomaltulose. Our authors Patrick and Benedict received a package with six meals + shaker, two drinks, and a chocolate bar and tested it!
What is it like to eat eSports nutrition for a week?
Runtime’s Promise: A High Without a Low
Runtime’s products claim to provide energy quickly and yet over a longer period. Being able to stay awake and work (or play) longer and more effectively sounds promising. However, we were skeptical if such a powder could really deliver.
On the other hand, energy drinks have this effect too. Runtime further promises that after the energy boost, there won’t be a slump where you become sluggish. The “sugar crash” is not supposed to occur, meaning the body won’t weaken after the energy is burned off.
These are promises that sound overreaching at first and are difficult to fulfill. The company relies on a special substance, isomaltulose.
Runtime’s Promise: Gaming Without a Sugar Low.
What is Isomaltulose?
The special feature of Runtime’s products is the sugar that the company uses to replace regular household sugar in the products. The sugar is supposed to be suitable for diabetics and even tooth-friendly.
Isomaltulose is supposed to decompose slower in the body, thus suppressing the craving for unhealthy food for longer — which has worked at least for our testers. Runtime also claims that this substance does not cause a “sugar crash,” as too much household sugar does.
The “Nextlevel Meals” – 606kcal per serving!
For the test, we received 6 bags of powdered food in various flavors:
Original
Chocolate
Christmas Edition
Strawberry
Coconut
Marzipan
First of all, it should be said: The “Nextlevel Meals” are not a supplement to a meal or a snack. Each bag has a caloric value of about 606kcal.
They are intended as a substitute for a whole meal and for people who need to perform a lot! Such a bag is not a snack and not suitable for diets. Furthermore, no more than one meal a day should be replaced with one meal.
How are the Meals prepared?
The handling of the “Nextlevel Meals” is quite simple. Rip open the bag, fill the powder into the included shaker, pour in 300ml of water, add the spring ball into the cup, and shake well for about 30 seconds.
The powder does not completely dissolve in water, but only distributes. It becomes drinkable, making it easier to consume than spooning dry powder. Accordingly, a slightly floury consistency is to be expected — but that is normal.
A little note: When preparing, make sure that the included shaker is properly closed. The cap on the lid is difficult to close and can best be secured with a firm slap of the flat hand. Benedict didn’t do this twice…
How did the Meals affect us? Do they keep their promise?
It is not necessary to supplement a bag with additional snacks. After consuming the powder, both of our authors felt full for over 4 hours and had no appetite for snacks or other food.
Both also observed that during this time, the craving for greasy food or sweets had disappeared. According to the manufacturer, this is due to the sugar isomaltulose, which decomposes slower and thus covers the sugar needs over a longer period.
In short: Yes, the manufacturer’s promise is kept. Even though we were initially skeptical, neither of us felt the urge to eat or snack. However, the work during this time was neither harder nor easier. Whether the food keeps you awake was hard to judge since we were already awake.
Gaming and working with Runtime: Not worse than without, but not necessarily better. We were awake anyway.
What do nutrition experts say about it?
To obtain a professionally competent opinion on the products, the colleagues from Giga consulted nutrition expert Dr. Sigrid Röchter from the Consumer Center NRW. She said:
“Dietary supplements, as the name suggests, should complement food. These are vitamins, minerals, or other substances sold in dosed form, such as capsules, tablets, pills, powdered bags, or liquid ampoules.”
The effect of isomaltulose has been scientifically confirmed by the European Food Safety Authority. However, the “Nextlevel Meals” lack secondary ingredients and other fibers, making them not balanced meals.
The active ingredients in the performance drinks that are supposed to deliver energy are based solely on a Swedish study. Further research and evidence are still lacking.
In general, it is advised that minors refrain from consuming these products!
How did the “Nextlevel Meals” taste?
Taste-wise, it can be debated whether the meals really taste good or not. All the powders we tested tasted a bit like cookie dough or baby food. Not bad, but unusual.
The flavors themselves did not differ as much as expected, but enough to distinguish them. We all agreed that the strawberry flavor was not to our liking and didn’t really fit into the repertoire.
We preferred the other flavors. Patrick’s favorite is coconut, closely followed by marzipan. For Benedict, the order is reversed: first marzipan, then coconut.
Chocolate tasted almost like “original” and only slightly of cocoa, while the “Christmas Edition” had a bit of an acquired taste of gingerbread and spices. Benedict liked it, Patrick is unsure.
All in all, none of the meals disappointed taste-wise except strawberry. We found them much more enjoyable to drink than similar products.
Performance Drinks and MEGABITE Bars
The other products in the package at a glance:
Performance Drink Orange: also contains grapefruit, which is what it tastes more like. Strong taste of sweetener and a little artificial, reminiscent of sugar-free orange soda.
Performance Drink Berry: tastes significantly fruitier and somewhat like sweet berry soda. The taste of berries overshadows the sweetener.
In terms of effect, there are hardly any differences in the Performance Drinks compared to other energy drinks. Only the restlessness that one sometimes experiences after too much sugar and caffeine was absent. Otherwise, in terms of taste, not the first choice.The MEGABITE tastes more like cocoa and less like chocolate, but above all it is not as sweet as other bars – rather bitter. It is suitable as a snack when hunger strikes. With over 246kcal, however, it is not a light snack.
Price and Summary
In summary, it can be said that the food made a good impression on us. In terms of taste, the meals are “okay” – an acquired taste and special.
The price of the food (18.40€ for 7 meals on sale) seems a bit steep to us.
The drinks could be an alternative to conventional energy drinks if one is willing to accept the taste. The MEGABITE made a good impression on us.
Anyone looking for a food alternative (or supplement) can definitely give Runtime a chance. However, our testers Benedict and Patrick do not want to prefer the products to their usual food in the long run.
