Best Science
What Is The Best Sports Drink?
What is the best sports drink? You can find hundreds of sports drinks on store shelves — but which really boost your performance, and which are just expensive sugar water?
It depends on what type of sportsman you are.Do you occasionally play a stop and go sport? Are you an endurance athlete? This question really can’t be answered without knowing who the sports drink is for. I mean, Tiger Woods in a golf tournament, has diverse wants than a person who is running a marathon. A child’s needs to rehydrate although playing outside, is various from an older adult; a female’s demands are different than a male’s.
Basically, everybody wants to rehydrate from water and minerals they have lost through sweating throughout the activity they’re doing. So, lets break this broad subject down to the rehydrating demands of a child vs an adult.
Most supermarkets and convenience stores are well stocked with neon-colored sports drinks and vitamin-fortified “designer water.”
These bottled drinks promise to give the drinker energy and vitality — some even advertise vague rewards like “balance,” “focus” and stress relief. But does the average consumer derive any real benefit from the sports drinks that Americans spent over $5.4 billion last year.
“It’s a marketing gimmick, pure and simple,” said Keith-Thomas Ayoob, nutritionist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Most health experts agree that sports drinks have electrolytes and sodium that are beneficial to professional athletes and marathoners, but have little value to the average user.
“There’s a certain appeal in drinking what Olympic athletes drink,” Ayoob said, “but it should be just water if you’re doing 10 minutes on a treadmill.” And because many enhanced carbonated water contain only small amounts of essential nutrients, Ayoob advises consumers to look elsewhere for nutrition.
“That’s what we have food for,” said Ayoob.
Other health experts question the sugar and calories these drinks can add to a person’s diet. “It’s a way of peddling soda to the health-conscious crowd,” said Dr. At Yale University School of Medicine David Katz is an expert nutrition and physician. “If you’re in training for the NFL, then having Gatorade at the sidelines is reasonable,” Katz said. “But most people use them badly. Katz added, that not only you are getting no benefit, you are also getting increased load of sugar and calories. “In terms of calories and sugar, just make sure those calories come out of your diet somewhere else.” Else it is better to drink soda water.
But manufacturers of sports drinks contend their products are healthy and safe. Craig Horswill, senior research fellow at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute in Barrington, Ill., notes that Gatorade and similar sports drinks are lower in calories than many other beverages. Gatorade “has fewer calories than sodas and skim milk,” Horswill said. He also emphasized that sports drinks are intended for people who engage in sports.
And a substantial body of evidence points to the advantages that sports drinks can have over water for serious athletes.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine described the condition known as hyponatremia, in which marathoners and other elite athletes can suffer dangerously low levels of sodium in their blood due to over-hydration with water. But not all sports drinks provide sufficient sodium to offer real protection from hyponatremia. This year, Gatorade is introducing a new beverage called Gatorade Endurance Formula, with more sodium and potassium than its normal formula.
But ultimately, numerous in the industry say consumers should decide for themselves whether to use sports drinks as part of a serious exercise regimen, or just a sugar-laden soda substitute. “Gatorade is formulated for the performance as well as the safety of the athlete,” Horswill said. The biggest point is exercising and being more active physically, rather than focusing on diet. Consumers have to be aware of what they’re consuming.”
In the industry others also put the responsibility on to the customer to make their dietary choices smart . “Fundamentally, people who have sedentary lifestyles need to make choices,” said Ray Crockett, spokesman for the Coca-Cola Company, maker of Powerade and other sports drinks.
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