Back in the ’60s, the University of Florida football team concocted a drink to help the players survive workouts in Florida’s intense heat and humidity. The team was the Gators, and the drink became known as Gatorade. Designed to replace the three things lost during exercise — fluids, carbohydrates, and electrolytes — Gatorade consisted of water, sugar, salt, and some lemon flavoring.
Today the market is flooded with sports drinks owned by companies like Pepsi, Coke, and drug giant GlaxoSmithKlein. The drinks come in an array of neon colors and claim to improve performance, enhance recovery, and keep you hydrated. And the public buys into these claims, to the tune of $1.5 billion a year.
But do you really need a sports drink to stay hydrated? Will Powerade improve your mountain bike ride, or help you recover after a tennis match? Do 8-year-old kids need Gatorade to make it through a soccer game?
According to experts, the answer is both yes and no. Obviously, we can live without sports drinks. For eons, athletes and everyone else got their fluid, carbs, and electrolytes like sodium and potassium by drinking water and eating real food.
But that doesn’t mean sports drinks can’t be useful. Most sports nutritionists, however, suggest that before you spend money on the drinks, you should consider important factors such as the length and intensity of your workout, the sports drink in question (not all are equal), how hot the temperature is, and your individual habits and preferences.
Of all these factors, the most important is the length and intensity of your workout. The American College of Sports Medicine says that for exercise lasting less than an hour, you don’t need a sports drink. Research shows that it won’t help you perform any better than if you swig regular water. This is because for the first hour of exercise, your body has enough glycogen and electrolyte reserves to last you through your workout. Just fill your water bottle and go. If temperatures are cool and you’re not sweating much, you can go longer than an hour on plain water.
But if you’re engaged in at least 60 to 90 minutes of hard, sustained exercise, especially in the heat, you’ll likely sweat out enough electrolytes and use up enough glycogen in your muscles to warrant replacement of both. You can do this by consuming any combination of food or drink that supplies the necessary ingredients. Sports drinks supply them conveniently, and have the added advantages of being a little easier to consume and digest than solid food, especially if you’re continuing your workout. Without some kind of carbohydrate supply, your body will shift from burning carbs to burning fats, which will slow your performance.
Commercial sports drinks no longer contain just simple kitchen ingredients, however. Some contain artificial sweeteners, and most products are colored with petroleum-based artificial dyes like Red #40, Blue #1, and Yellow #5 and #6. Artificial dyes have been shown to cause allergic reactions and hyperactivity in some children, particularly kids who have been diagnosed with ADHD. Animal studies have linked some dyes to adrenal and kidney tumors.
To avoid artificial dyes and sweeteners, not to mention the single-use plastic bottles these drinks come in, try making your own (see recipe in sidebar) or buy one of the many powdered mixes that provide carbs and electrolytes without artificial additives.
For a non-drink alternative, bananas or raisins are a great choice; both have been shown to boost endurance in cyclists as much as a sports drink.
Keep in mind that some sports drinks contain up to 10 teaspoons of sugar and 125 calories a bottle, as much as a can of soda. If you’re exercising to lose weight, the extra calories might not be worth it.
Many experts agree that kids don’t need the extra sugar and calories, either, especially if their activities consists of a morning soccer game or a family bike ride. But if your kids are participating in a serious sports camp, it might be a different story. Researchers from University of Connecticut studied the drinking habits of kids attending soccer and football camps on the East Coast. The kids, aged 9 to 16, practiced three times a day for four days. Researchers found that the kids arrived dehydrated and got progressively more dehydrated as the camp progressed, even though water was readily available. The kids thought they were staying hydrated, though many admitted they simply forgot to drink.
Would a sports drink encourage them to guzzle more fluids? Probably. Canadian researchers found that flavoring the water encouraged kids to drink. During one study, kids riding exercise bikes in the heat drank 44 percent more liquid when the drink was grape-flavored than when it was plain water.
Though dehydration can be serious, all the hype about staying hydrated has led even serious athletes to drink so much water that they get hyponatremia, a condition in which sodium drops to dangerously low levels, which can lead to coma and death. But sports drink won’t necessarily protect you; researchers found that hyponatremia was just as likely to occur in marathon runners who drank sports drinks as those who drank plain water.
What about the newest health craze — coconut water? Marketed as the “natural way” to rehydrate, this clear liquid from the center of young coconuts is naturally high in potassium, but low in sodium, the electrolyte we lose the most when sweating. But if you like the flavor, coconut water can be a refreshing drink. Be aware that it contains about 90 calories per 17 ounces (don’t be tricked by the small serving size), and that some varieties are mixed with fruit juice.
Other drinks, such as Vitaminwater, “fitness” waters, and energy drinks like Red Bull, generally don’t make good sports drinks because they lack adequate amounts of the two basic things you need – electrolytes and carbs. Though some caffeine can improve athletic performance, too much can leave you jittery, and really large doses are banned in certain competitions.
Once you’ve finished your workout and need carbohydrates and protein for recovery, which drinks are the best? The American College of Sports Medicine says that a good choice is low fat chocolate milk. In one study, soccer players showed lower indications of muscle damage when they drank chocolate milk versus a recovery sports drink containing similar calories. In another, milk restored fluid balance better than water or sports drinks after exercise.
Though sports drinks may help some athletes, it’s certainly possible to get what you need by eating real food and drinking water. But if sports drinks work for you, go ahead and use them. Just remember they’re not much more than fancy sugar water with a bit of salt.
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