Encouraging manageable lifestyle changes for health and happiness, through research and personal experience.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Sports Drinks - from a student

It's been a while since I've had a student discussion post submission that I liked so much I wanted to share it on this blog - but without further ado here is a post about sports drinks from one of my Sport Nutrition students, Keriana S!  I hope you enjoy :)
Sports Drinks
          I’m sure you've all heard the story about the Florida Gators Football team and the discovery of Gatorade! If you haven’t, go check it out http://www.gatorade.com/company/heritage (it’s pretty cool!). Basically, the four researchers who led the study found that there are two major factors that play an important role in an athlete’s ability to perform at an optimal level. These factors are: Electrolytes and carbohydrates.
          So what exactly do electrolytes and carbohydrates have to do with sports drinks, and how do they help athletes perform at their highest level? Let’s start with electrolytes! If you’ve taken chemistry you know that many salts (such as NaCl) dissociate into ions when placed into an aqueous solution.  For example, if we drop a lump of NaCl into a solvent such as H2O, it will break down into Na+ and Cl-. This solution can now conduct electricity and is considered an electrolyte solution (Silberberg, 2014). The ions inside the solution are now called electrolytes! Other common electrolytes include: calcium (Ca2+), potassium (K+), and magnesium (Mg2+) etc…
          The wonderful idea behind sports drinks is that you can consume readily available electrolytes and your body doesn't have to break down the salts (So clearly this is a better option than shaking table salt into your mouth!). The electrolytes can be taken directly into your system and used to replenish and balance fluids and help with muscle function. As you know, these functions (and almost every other function in our bodies) rely on concentration gradients, and ions play a huge role in this process.
          Now let’s look at carbohydrates. Many sports drinks contain a high level of carbohydrates in order to help athletes quickly refill their glycogen stores. For example, Gatorade (on average) contains 34g of carbohydrates per 20 ounces of product (Gatorade.com, 2016). It is recommended that athletes only consume sports drinks with carbs after at least 1 hour of exercise (Story, 2012).  The problem with sports drinks is that many individuals who are not engaged in physical activity for an hour or more, tend to choose them as a snack. Sports drinks are not recommended for the average population because it is not healthy to consume 34 grams of carbohydrates as a snack (that’s a lot of sugar!). The American Heart Association recommends 25-37.5 grams of added sugar per day.
          In conclusion, athletes and individuals engaged in moderate – intense exercise for at least an hours are encouraged to consume sports drinks in order to replenish fluids, glycogen stores and electrolytes. Gatorade and PowerAde are the top rated sports drinks on the market today and offer sugar free options for individuals who are not engaged in exercise. When choosing a sports drink, it is important to make sure that your choice includes potassium and sodium. It is best to choose a sports drink with 6-8% carbohydrates for optimal glycogen replenishment (Roberts, 2009). Although sports drinks can be very helpful in replacing lost electrolytes and carbohydrates, water is always the best option when it comes to properly hydrating the body.
References:

O'hare, J. (2011). Who Drinks What: Identifying International Drinks Consumption Trends. London:Euromonitor. 25(6), 27-28. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
Roberts, A. (2009). Sports Drinks Fact Sheet. Sports Dietitians Australia. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
Silberberg, M. (2014). The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change (7th ed.).

Smith, J. (1997). A Look at the Components and Effectiveness of Sports Drinks. Retrieved March 12, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
Sports Drink Recommendations for Exercise in the Heat and Cooler Conditions. (2010). Retrieved March 12, 2016, from Gatorade Sports Science Institute.  
Sugars, Added Sugars and Sweeteners. (2015). Retrieved March 12, 2016, from American Heart Association. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers