How Crucial Are Sports Drinks To Fitness Training?

Your body is a bag of salty water containing all the right minerals for optimum physical function. There’s an immediate discomfort if the tiniest amount of this fluid is lost.  For instance, during fitness training, losing a mere 1% of body weight through dehydration can reduce performance considerably.  There is fatigue and cramps if 2-3% is lost, while greater loses may lead to heat stroke, coma, and even death. As such, hydration is important for anyone during intensive training particularly in hot humid conditions when sweating increases during sport events.  This is where sports drinks come in. 

The difference between sports drinks and water is that the former keep the amount and concentration of this salty water constant, and in addition supply beneficial carbohydrates for hard working muscles.

There are three categories of Sports drinks:

• Fluid and electrolyte replacement drinks.
• Energy replacement drinks
• Energy gels

Fluid electrolyte drinks

Provide fluid and electrolytes in an ‘isotonic’ form, which means the same saltiness as blood plasma.  Researches show the water in isotonic drinks is absorbed from the stomach more rapidly than pure water alone.  The added electrolyte minerals help to make the drink isotonic and to replace minerals lost through sweating.  Fluid replacement drinks are especially beneficial in hot climate where profuse sweating occurs or where the event is over an hour long.  Some fluid replacement drinks also provide small amounts of carbohydrate to help the drink isotonic rather than to supply huge replacement of glycogen for the muscles.

However, if budget is an issue, you can always make your own cheap and cheerful electrolyte replacement drink by taking a litre of pure orange juice and adding a litre of water and half a teaspoon of table salt.  While not technically advanced as some commercial sports drinks, at least it is reasonably pleasant tasting.

Energy replacement drinks

The goal is to replace energy and fluid by supplying soluble carbohydrates in a drink format.  The advantage of using soluble carbohydrate over solid food is that little or no digestion is needed. This means that these drinks can be consumed during training or competition and help to delay the onset of glycogen reduction. Getting energy from drinks is not simply by just dissolving a load of sugar in water and bottling it, as you’re likely to get bloatness and cramps due to poor sugar absorption. The better energy drinks get round these problems by supplying carbohydrate in the form of malto-dextrins, or better still, as glucose polymers, which behave much more like starchy carbohydrates in the body by releasing energy gradually.  This means that you can take significant amounts of carbohydrate in a drink format and still benefit from rapid absorption without sugar crashes or bloating effects. But they are pricey!

Energy gels

They provide soluble carbohydrates in a gel-like format, which is consumed directly from the sachet.  The gels supply carbohydrate in an isotonic form for rapid absorption, with small water added.  Gels are useful for those times when only water is available, or the supply of your normal energy drink cannot be guaranteed, for instance during marathon races.  By consuming the gel and drinking water, you can ensure that energy and fluid replacement needs are met wherever you are. 

Sport drinks and healthy eating tips

• Read labels and check the quality of what you’re purchasing. Some sports drinks are nothing more than exorbitantly priced sugary water.
• Don’t attempt to use a new drink for the first time in a race situation.  Always test it out in training first.
• If you follow a high carbohydrate diet, workouts of less than an hour are more likely to benefit from water rather than energy drinks, though energy drinks can assist recovery.
• Don’t think only hydration during training or racing.  Keep well hydrated always by drinking plenty of fresh water.  If your urine is any darker than a pale straw colour, you're dehydrated.
• Don’t forget most of your energy should come from high quality complex carbohydrates in your daily diet, rather than from sports drinks.
• Ensure you eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables rich in potassium and magnesium like banana and potatoes along with some dairy produce rich in calcium like cheese or milk to maintain electrolyte mineral balance.  Don’t worry about sodium since most diets contain too much rather than too little anyway.

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