GU

Like many innovative solutions, the original energy gel that revolutionized performance nutrition all started with a single question:

“How can I help an athlete reach their highest potential?”
For GU Energy Labs founder Dr. Bill Vaughan, an avid runner and mad biochemist, that question was inspired by his daughter, Laura, a competing ultra runner who struggled with the oh so fun gastrointestinal distress.

It was the early 90’s, around the same time neon windbreakers, in-line skates, and spandex shorts were all the rage. Energy bars, a.k.a. sawdust bricks, were in their early stages, doing their best to provide unnecessary ingredients and gut bombs to athletes searching for that ever-illusive performance edge. Dr. Vaughan, on the other hand, was experimenting with carbs in other forms. Rigorous experimentation and refinement resulted in a a convenient goo-ey energy source that efficiently delivered complex and simple carbohydrates, essential amino acids, lactic acid buffers, and antioxidants faster than one could say, “Ready, set…” The first three flavors of GU: Chocolate, Vanilla and Orange launched in 1992.