When you exercise intensely, you need to replace fluids lost through sweating particularly in hot weather, when you can easily lose more than a quart of water in an hour. At the very least, neglecting to compensate for fluid loss can cause lethargy and nausea, interfering with your performance. In endurance activities like marathon running, long-distance cycling, or even strenuous hiking, water loss can be severe, potentially producing heat exhaustion or heat stroke,
What should you drink when working out? Most exercise physiologists have recommended water as the ideal replacement fluid because it is absorbed more efficiently than any other beverage. Over the past several years, though, specially formulated sports drinks such as Gatorade and Quickick have been widely touted as providing additional benefits. These drinks promise to replace the sodium and potassium lost in sweating as well as supply carbohydrates in the form of sugar for energy. However, in a number of studies, researchers have found
That sugar significantly slowed the body substation of fluid from the digestive act as a result, experts in the past consistently cautioned that beverages containing more than 2.5% sugar may hamper performance particularly in hot weather. Most sports drinks have a sugar content of 6 to 8% the sugar content of fruit juices and soft drinks is even higher.
Now recent research indicates that sports drinks may work as efficiently as plain water. By using new monitoring techniques to trace what happens to the fluids athletes drink, exercise physiologists at the University of South Carolina’s Exercise Physiology Laboratory in Columbia discovered that although a drink containing 6% sugar may leave the stomach more slowly than water, it gets into the bloodstream just as quickly through the small intestine, Moreover, subjects performing endurance exercise experienced significantly less fatigue when they consumed the carbohydrate solution than when they drank plain water.
Other studies suggest that running and other activities that jostle the abdomen may also help force fluids through the stomach so that, in fact, the rate at which fluid leaves the stomach may not begin to diminish until its sugar concentration rises above 8%.
The companies that produce sports drinks have cited these studies to suggest that their products are superior to water for fluid replacement. But unless you are engaging in long workouts, there is no evidence that sports drinks offer any advantage over water. In virtually all of these studies the subjects were trained endurance athletes who exercised two hours or more, and the researchers noted that sports drinks will probably not provide any benefit over water during shorter bouts of exercise, In hot weather, furthermore, replacing fluid is far more critical than Restoring carbohydrates (which you can obtain by eating crackers or other high carbohydrate foods) or sodium (easily replaced through your normal diet).
The researchers also point out that the efficiency of any fluid varies tremendously among individuals. Some people’s systems don’t handle sports drinks well, so that even when the drinks are diluted they may cause nausea. Nor has any one type of carbohydrate drink proven superior. Its for glucose polymer drinks such as Exceed, which contain chains of glucose molecules have claimed that other drinks containing high concentrations of simple glucose and/or sucrose. But studies comparing sports drinks have found no significant difference in their rate of absorption.
If you want to spend the money ‘on sports drinks, that’s up to you. If a sports drink makes you feel bloated, try diluting it with one to three parts water or switch completely to water.
‘Whatever you drink…
The most important thing is to drink period even if you don’t feel thirsty. Thirst is Satisfied long before you have replenished lost fluids. Research shows that cool drinks (40% to 50%) are absorbed more quickly than lukewarm ones. In hot weather drink at least 16 to 20 ounces of fluid two hours before exercising and another 8 ounces 15 to 30 minutes before. While you exercise drink 3 to 7 ounces every 10 to 20 minutes. After exercising drink enough to replace the fluid you’ve sweated off (weigh yourself before and after your workout; drink one pint for each pound lost) and eat normally.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 15, 1989
