The branding for sports drinks features some of the world’s most elite athletes. While you may want to be able to dunk like an NBA star, you will need more than a sports drink to achieve that goal. Frankly, sports drinks benefit athletes or those who train like athletes. Like any other artificial drink, sports drinks also have downfalls. In this article, we will delve into sports drinks benefits, disadvantages, and sports drinks tips.
Sports Drinks
Sports drinks have gained widespread popularity, yet their nutritional content is tailored for the athletic realm rather than daily consumption unless there’s regular fluid and electrolyte loss.Â
Designed to relieve fatigue during exercise and aid in post-workout rehydration, they replenish essential carbohydrates, electrolytes, protein, and nutrients vital for performance. Sporting a readily absorbable carbohydrate form is crucial for active muscles, and sports drinks are the primary fuel source for exercise, enhancing performance.
Overconsumption of water may result in water intoxication or hyponatremia, characterized by low sodium levels in the blood, potentially causing brain swelling and even death. Fluids providing 60 to 100 calories per 8 ounces are recommended to prevent this condition, supplying necessary carbohydrates, calories, electrolytes, and fluids for sustained performance, particularly in extreme conditions lasting over three hours.
Sports drinks are categorized into isotonic, hypertonic, and hypotonic varieties. Isotonic options maintain balance with the body’s fluids and nutrients, while hypertonic varieties contain more nutrients than blood. Hypotonic versions have fewer nutrients than blood.
Sports Drinks and Exercise
Athletes must maintain proper hydration and fuel levels during exercise to achieve peak performance. While numerous beverages target sports or performance, sports drinks are tailor-made to supply the ideal mix of carbohydrates, electrolytes, and fluids for adequate exercise fueling and hydration. When consumed correctly, sports drinks can enhance performance.
What are the components of a sports drink?
A typical sports drink contains three key components: sugar (carbohydrates), calories, and sodium. Take Powerade, for example:
- 50 calories per serving (an eight-ounce bottle is 2.5 servings)
- 100 mg sodium
- 14 grams of sugar
- 14 grams of carbohydrates
A sports drink with 150 calories comprises roughly ten teaspoons of sugar. If you are health conscious, you’ll want to think twice about any beverage with that much sugar.
Carbohydrates:
Carbohydrates play a crucial role in various sports by providing energy for muscles and the brain. They also enhance the taste of sports drinks. Most sports drinks contain 6-8% carbohydrates, as concentrations beyond this can hinder digestion and lead to gastrointestinal discomfort during exercise, ultimately affecting performance.
Electrolytes:
Sports drinks typically contain sodium and potassium electrolytes. Sodium stimulates thirst, promotes fluid intake, and enhances fluid absorption and retention. These drinks can aid in replenishing salt lost through heavy sweating. However, low-sodium options may not be suitable for rapid rehydration scenarios. Potassium helps maintain electrolyte balance and supports muscle function during physical activity.
Flavor:
Flavor plays a vital role in sports drinks, making them more appealing than water and increasing voluntary fluid consumption during or after exercise.
Other Ingredients:
Certain sports drinks include extra ingredients like vitamins, minerals, protein, and herbal extracts. While these additives may offer minimal extra benefits, they can impact the taste and consumption of the beverage. Caffeine, found in some sports drinks, can also enhance performance.
Added Sodium
On average, a sports drink will add 100 mg of sodium to your diet. While some sodium intake is essential because it will replace that which you lose during exercise from perspiration, be careful. If you are like most Americans and consume 3,000 mg of sodium daily, that puts you well over the recommended limit. Per the Mayo Clinic, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans says you should consume no more than 2,300 sodium mg daily.
You can pass on the sports drinks. There’s no need to down one after your Zumba class or power walk. The same applies to children. Sports drinks can benefit young athletes participating in prolonged, vigorous physical activities. Still, they are typically unnecessary on the sports field or in the school cafeteria, as the American Association of Pediatrics explains.
Wellness Coach and Certified Holistic Health Educator for Kaiser Permanente Sylvia Nalezny says, “In my opinion, sports drinks are over-marketed and full of additives that are more harmful than good.”
Advantages of Consuming Sports Drinks During and After Physical Activity:
As previously discussed, consuming sports drinks during intense physical activity enhances performance by maintaining hydration and cardiovascular functions, such as plasma volume, cardiac output, and blood flow to muscles and skin. These drinks also supply readily metabolizable carbohydrates to muscles and the brain, facilitating increased carbohydrate oxidation rates, often associated with improved performance and further enhanced by combinations of simple sugars.
Ingesting sports drinks during exercise has been correlated with reductions in perceived exertion, although not consistently across all studies. Despite this, scientific literature supports the claim that carbohydrate-electrolyte solutions can lower perceived exertion levels.
While the primary functional components of sports drinks are water, carbohydrates, and electrolytes, their sensory attributes contribute to hydration advantages. Sports drinks’ flavor, sweetness, and sodium content encourage greater voluntary fluid intake than plain water, sustaining hydration during exercise.
After exercise, consuming sports drinks aids in rapid rehydration compared to water alone. The sodium content in these drinks promotes increased fluid intake, restoring plasma volume and reducing urine production, thus enhancing fluid retention. Rapid rehydration is crucial for athletes, workers, and individuals with limited time between physical activities, making sports drinks a practical choice.
Disadvantages or Potential Adverse Effects of Sports Drinks:
- Gastrointestinal Discomfort:
- Consuming excessive amounts of sports drinks can lead to gastrointestinal upset. It’s advised for athletes to sip small quantities regularly during training sessions to minimize this discomfort.
- Dental Concerns:
- Acidic beverages, including sports, fruit juices, and soft drinks, contribute to tooth enamel erosion. While sports drinks alone may not solely cause dental issues, athletes consuming large volumes over extended periods should prioritize dental hygiene.
Choosing the right sports drink relies on personal taste and tolerance. Although the nutritional content varies, sports drinks typically offer consistent levels of carbohydrates and electrolytes. It’s advisable to test different options during training rather than competitive events. Consulting an Accredited Sports Dietitian can assist in crafting a tailored fluid plan, incorporating suitable sports drinks.
Sports Drinks Tips: When to Consider Drinking it
Sports drinks are best for athletes or those training like athletes pushing their limits. These drinks help the body achieve optimal performance during physical exertion. They give the body that extra carbohydrate boost and refuel you to meet the physical demands of strenuous exercise. It is challenging for an endurance athlete’s body to function correctly without essential carbohydrates.
Nalezny explains, “If you’re exercising intensely for more than an hour per day, you may consider adding electrolytes back in.” You might consider a sports drink if you are:
- Engaging in intense workouts that will last more than an hour
- Exercising in exceedingly hot or humid environments
- Prone to sweat profusely
- Prone to muscle cramps
Practical Applications
Pre-Exercise:
Sports drinks can optimize fluid and carbohydrate intake before an event. Carbohydrates increase energy availability, while added sodium reduces pre-exercise urine losses.
During Exercise:
Designed for activities lasting over 90 minutes, sports drinks enhance fluid and energy delivery, prolonging performance in training and competition by fueling muscles and the brain.
Recovery:
Sports drinks aid post-exercise recovery by replenishing lost fluids and electrolytes and restoring glycogen stores. Drinks with higher sodium content facilitate efficient rehydration when time between sessions is limited. Complementing sports drinks with nutrient-rich foods and fluids is essential for comprehensive recovery.
What to Drink?Â
It’s no secret that dehydration can spoil a good workout and even put your health at risk. Harvard Health Publications pulls no punches regarding the best choice for hydration; water was the hands-down favorite. Before there were sports drinks, water was the drink of choice. Most experts agree that water is still the best bet for most of us.
You can also get fluid from the foods you eat, explains the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Nalezny suggests, “While it’s true that we do lose electrolytes during exercise, usually if you’re eating a well-balanced diet, using quality sea salt, and eating an abundance of organic produce, chances are you’re probably going to be fine.”
Other Hydration Options
Nalezny says, “You can make your sports drink with fresh lemon juice, maple syrup, sea salt, and maybe a little fresh coconut water.” It’s easy to make your tasty electrolyte drink. If you feel water isn’t enough or want to try something different to fuel your workouts and keep you hydrated, make your healthy drink.
Identify Your Hydration Needs
For most of us, obeying our thirst is the best rule of thumb. Children and older people may need help gauging their need to hydrate, as the British Medical Journal (BMJ) pointed out in its 2012 study on sports drinks.Â
Furthermore, if you’re judging hydration based on your urine color, you should do it first thing in the morning. The BMJ study found that this commonly used method of gauging hydration is only sometimes as reliable as you think. The research indicates that “there is limited evidence suggesting that only the color of first-morning urine can be consistently relied upon to evaluate dehydration and rehydration.” The American Council on Exercise gives the following hydration pointers:
- Before commencing your exercise session, drink up to 17-20 ounces of water for 2-3 hours.
- Drink eight ounces of fluids 20 to 30 minutes before exercise or during warm-up.
- Drink 7-10 ounces of fluids every 10 to 20 minutes of exercise.
- Drink another 8 ounces of fluids within 30 minutes of exercising.
- Consume 16-24 ounces of fluid for each pound of body weight lost following exercise.
Conclusion:
You should make sure that you’re well-hydrated for exercise. Water, however, will do the trick. So do yourself a favor and avoid the extra calories and sugar sports drinks offer.