Best running gels: sports and isotonic energy

These slim and sleekly packaged gels top our list for their excellent and diverse flavours. Your first TORQ gel is usually quite a shock – they're certainly potent – but once you know what to expect, the strong flavours and smooth syrupy texture makes them a highly craveable treat.

Of course, it's not all about the flavour. Thirty grams of each 45g gel are Torq's proprietary 'multiple-transportable' carbohydrates. Their 2:1 blend of maltodextrin and fructose allows for quicker delivery and digestion, so you feel an energy boost very soon after taking one of these.

All of TORQ's gels contain the big five electrolyte salts which help your body stay hydrated, though these gels don't contain as much water as other options, so you'll definitely want to take a swig and wash one down.

You can also opt for the naturally caffeinated version which contains 89mg guarana. This may be a coincidence, but all of our favourite flavours (especially banoffee, vanilla latte, and cola) happen to be caffeinated. If you want to stick with the regular gels, there's nothing tastier than TORQ's apple crumble gel, which borders on Wonka territory.

*Nutritional info and ingredients listed are per gel, taken from the non-caffeinated apple crumble flavour. The amounts can vary depending on flavour, but only by a matter of one or two grams.

HIGH5 have taken a different approach than TORQ for their flavours, opting for a smaller range which is more organic. Each of their gels is flavoured after one fruit and includes actual fruit juice – they often seriously nail it. The banana gel is a surprising winner for us.

Each 40g gel contains 23g of carbs, which is a less efficient ratio than other gels on this list. However, the extra water in these allows for a texture which is far easier to consume than the super syrupy TORQ shots. The orange flavour is the closest to we've ever seen running nutrition come to tasting like a sip of Fanta.

The nutrient profile also leaves a little to be desired, although the electrolytes you miss out on do set you up to pair these gels with your favourite hydration tabs.

These gels do also contain a decent amount of vitamin B6, which helps your body produce haemoglobin, which in turn lets you carry more oxygen to your muscles with each breath.

*Nutritional info and ingredients are listed per gel, taken from the blackcurrant flavour. There are no differences between the HIGH5 gels' ingredients except for the flavour of fruit juice.

You have to commend Veloforte for their bold and unique innovations with energy gel flavourings. Alonside your standard coffee-flavoured caffeinated choices are 'real fruit' options, such as Blackcurent and Elderflower; Dates, Lemon and Ginger; and Beetroot and Lemon.

We try not to simply buy into a brand's messaging without a good amount of research and scepticism, but what you see with Veloforte is truly what you get. We can taste real fruit when taking one of these, and the list of ingredients is refreshingly sparse, natural, and wholesome.

Even with 0% synthetic ingredients, the caffeinated options use Guarana extract which contains 75mg of caffeine, just 5mg short of the Energel+. Though they're a much smaller size.

22g isn't the highest carb count on this list, but these do contain a generous amount of electrolytes, especially sodium – the main salt lost through sweating - which clocks in at 110mg.

In all, the natural ingredients offer a more complex taste which, after three weeks of constant gel testing, is a welcome break from the artificial sweetness of other choices.

*nutritional info and ingredients per 33g gel, taken from 'Riba' flavour

This is certainly the most caffeine forward gel in our list, coming in at a whopping 80mg. That's a bit more than a can of Red Bull, for context. Nutrition X position their gel as a late-in-the-game fatigue-offset and boost to mental alertness during prolonged exercise.

Of course, that's in addition to a decent boost in glucose – 24g of carbs to be precise, with almost half being sugars. The Energel+ is fast acting, and we found it to be more quickly and palpably noticeable in our testing. With a 50g serving size, it's easily the largest gel in this list, which is both good and bad.

On the one hand, the extra water in this gel makes it extremely easy and quick to drink. But, on the other, the extra weight does start to make a difference if you're going to be loading up your hydration vest for a fast and light ultra race.

There's only one flavour – cola – which you're stuffed if you don't like, but you're in the money if you do. This gel has a soft spot in our hearts, a silver bullet to offset some fatigue when we need that last boost to finish a big run.

*Nutritional info and ingredients are per 50g gel

Science in Sport are inarguably titans in the world of running and race nutrition. They are perhaps the most performance-focused brand going, which makes it unsurprising that their isotonic gels score the highest for nutritional density, but the lowest for taste and texture.

Don't get us wrong, they taste pretty good, although the flavours are fairly limited. It's the texture that our testers took issue with. However, when you break down SiS' approach with these gels and the context in which they're often taken, then things start to make a bit more sense.

SiS have created the world's first isotonic energy gel. This means that, unlike the other picks in our list, these gels can be taken and absorbed without the need for any extra water. According to the brand, these gels can eliminate the need for bulky water bottles, which is a huge plus for gram counting race runners.

While we wouldn't recommend tackling super long distances without a good water supply, we do see the appeal of having three or four of these 60g sachets on hand for a speedy 15k. As we've mentioned, this does come at a cost – the GO Isotonic energy gels have an usual texture that is best described as watery jelly.

They may not be the most fun to consume, but they go down fast, digest easily, and quickly delivery carbs, electrolytes, and water. They're the ultimate no-faff gel. We recommend them for races.

*nutritional info and ingredients per 60g gel, taken from blackcurrant flavour

GU Gels offer a range of flavours to satisfy all but the fussiest of palates. The gels are tasty and go down a treat. They do not suffer from the often-artificial tastes of other tested brands, and flavours such as Lemon Sublime and Chocolate Outrage deliver exactly what you'd expect from such luxurious names.

Testing them on a variety of runs, they delivered – with a hit of caffeine - that much needed burst of energy when called upon in an effective and easily digestible way. The gels themselves are thick in consistency and not as liquid as most other brands, so may need to be washed down with a mouthful of water.

Especially given their tiny package size, GU's gels are very nutritionally dense. Similarly to TORQ, they use a combination of maltodextrin and fructose to maximise carb absorption by delivering them through non-competing pathways.

They're also the only gels here to include branched-chain amino acids (leucine, valine, isoleucine) which work to decrease muscle damage, so definitely look into these if you're getting plagued by DOMs. Available with or without caffeine.

*Nutritional info and ingredients are per 32g gel, taken from the salted watermelon flavour.