Sport Drinks Evaluation

Published by Frank on October 15, 2010

Sport drinks act to restore any loss of electrolytes, carbohydrates or other nutrients that may have been lost during intensive physical activity. This is very important in order for the body to function properly and continue performing. The replacement of electrolytes and water is of particular importance as this helps the body get the required rehydration that it needs. Athletes who are continuously exercising their body through sports can risk dehydration through sweating if they do not rehydrate their system. These sport drinks will include minerals such as magnesium, calcium, sodium fluoride and potassium. Carbohydrates form an important part of the ingredients in a sport drink. They help to replenish the loss of carbohydrates that occur during intense exercises. This is because the body will burn carbohydrates at a rate of 3 to 4 g per minute. Therefore, if an athlete’s training lasts for over two hours, they would lose a very large portion of their carbohydrates. If this is not replenished, their performance will start to deteriorate from a lack of energy.

 

Inside sport drinks that happens to be hypertonic, the concentrations of sugar and salt will be higher than that of the human body and will cause the stomach to empty at a much faster rate. It will also increase the absorption rate of the small intestine. This happens as a result of higher levels of electrolytes, in particular from the sodium and potassium, which will reduce the body’s output of urine. Hypotonic sports drinks would have sugar and salt concentrations that are lower than the human body, and will be effective for less strenuous exercises where the body has not dehydrated too much. This is particularly useful for those situations where fluids have been lost through sweating and the athlete only needs to replenish lost electrolytes without too much concern for carbohydrates.

If you try to replenish a dehydrated body with a low osmolality fluid such as water, it will cause the osmolality in blood plasma to decrease. This will in turn reduce the athlete’s thirst, preventing them from drinking enough fluid to replace that which the body has lost. This situation is also known as water intoxication, and it is extremely rare. To avoid this, many manufacturers of sports drinks will use a similar ratio of electrolytes and replenishing fluids that are found in the body. It is very important to make sure that you know whether the sport drink is isotonic or hypotonic. This is so that you are not consuming large amounts of fluid that have very low concentrations of electrolytes, which would lead to water intoxication. Each sport drink brand will have its own benefits, but in general, most of these sports drinks will have a concentration of carbohydrates that range between 5 to 7%. It is advisable that you drink a sport drink before doing any exercises so that your electrolyte levels do not drop too low from sweat that is lost when exercising.