Sports Drinks vs Water

Sports Drinks or Water? Which is better? It is amazing how marketing can make us all assume that if we exercise at all we need to chug down a sports drink. And now they have taken their place next to sodas as an everytime drink (not that sodas are good!! They are also bad for you…We’ll get to them in a later post!). Does everyone know the history of the sports drink? Let me share it with you.

This is the official history off of the Gatorade website:

In early summer of 1965, a University of Florida assistant coach sat down with a team of university physicians and asked them to determine why so many of his players were being affected by heat and heat related illnesses.

The researchers — Dr. Robert Cade, Dr. Dana Shires, Dr. H. James Free and Dr. Alejandro de Quesada — soon discovered two key factors that were causing the Gator players to ‘wilt’: the fluids and electrolytes the players lost through sweat were not being replaced, and the large amounts of carbohydrates the players’ bodies used for energy were not being replenished.

The researchers then took their findings into the lab, and scientifically formulated a new, precisely balanced carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage that would adequately replace the key components lost by Gator players through sweating and exercise. They called their concoction ‘Gatorade’.

Soon after the researchers introduced their Gatorade formula to the team, the Gators began winning… outlasting a number of heavily favored opponents in the withering heat and finishing the season at 7–4.

The team’s success progressed even more during the 1966 season, with the Gators finishing at 9–2 and winning the Orange Bowl for the first time ever in the history of the school. Word about Gatorade began to spread outside of the state of Florida, and both the University of Richmond and Miami of Ohio, began ordering batches of Gatorade for their football teams. Orders from other college football programs across the country soon followed, as playing without Gatorade on your sidelines began to be likened to playing with just ten men on the field.

Today, Gatorade can be found on the sidelines of more than 70 Division I colleges as the official sports drink of their men’s and women’s intercollegiate sports.

So sports drinks improve performance, right? Not necessarily. We have to remember that these athletes are training and performing at levels that the average Joe never reaches. They are full of calories that are not really needed for normal exercise levels.

The following is a portion of a great article I found that explains how we should hydrate. You can access it at http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/hydrationandfluid/a/ProperHydration.htm

General Guidelines for Fluid Needs During Exercise
While specific fluid recommendations aren't possible due to individual variability, most athletes can use the following guidelines as a starting point, and modify their fluid needs accordingly.

Hydration Before Exercise
· Drink about 15-20 fl oz, 2-3 hours before exercise
· Drink 8-10 fl oz 10-15 min before exercise
Hydration During Exercise
· Drink 8-10 fl oz every 10-15 min during exercise
· If exercising longer than 90 minutes, drink 8-10 fl oz of a sports drink (with no more than 8 percent carbohydrate) every 15 - 30 minutes.
Hydration After Exercise
· Weigh yourself before and after exercise and replace fluid losses.
· Drink 20-24 fl oz water for every 1 lb lost.
· Consume a 4:1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein within the 2 hours after exercise to replenish glycogen stores.

If we can keep on top of our hydration we really should never need a sports drink (unless we are running a marathon or doing an Ironman). As for me, it is really hard to drink a ton of water some days. But since I don't want to drink all my calories by having a normal sports drink I have found that the alternatives that they offer aren't too bad. Gatorade offers a drink called Propel that only has between 10 and 20 calories per serving instead of the normal 100. Again--water really is best. So before you pick up a sports drink, make sure to check out the nutrition label to see if you really need the extra calories.