Sports drink

[LuckyR]

For those of you who use sports drinks for energy (as opposed to pure hydration) or are worried about sugar crashes, I recently came across a sports drink with no disaccharides (fructose/sucrose). The name of it is: gleukos. They have a web site with more data etc.

In my research about it I am attracted to it for a number of reasons, although they aren't necessarily the reasons that their literature touts.

1- It is colorless. My main gripe about Gatorade is the terrible colors that stain your lips and tongue.

2- It is not strong tasting. Gatorade needs to be diluted to keep the taste down.

3- It is high in potassium, which would be good in the summer especially if it wasn't the first match of the day (I rarely would play twice in a day)

4- It is priced OK, not cheap but not crazy.

5- It is available in powder form.

It is a bit low in sodium (not that any of us need any more sodium) but that Na is needed for more rapid hydration, again my main reason for using Sports drinks. But table salt can easily be added.

To my view it can be made easily as good as a hydrator as Gatorade, it is much more user friendly and would be superior as a intramatch drink.

 

[Tanner77]

why waste money on that why not use just water, i personally think water should go die (somehow, who knows). but when your tired you like water enough to drink it, it doesn't make you sick unless you drink to much at one time. every time you change court, just get a sip and get ready to play again.

 

[LuckyR]

why waste money on that why not use just water, i personally think water should go die (somehow, who knows). but when your tired you like water enough to drink it, it doesn't make you sick unless you drink to much at one time. every time you change court, just get a sip and get ready to play again.

Actually water alone is not that rapid of a hydrator. Personally I prefer to play tennis with my gut empty, not sloshing around with a bunch of water I just drank.

That's why.

 

[WildVolley]

Actually, I read a report where water combined with salty food (pretzels, peanuts, etc) gave quicker recovery than sports drinks. The salt allows you to take in more water (to a point) and the food provided energy more efficiently than the drink.

 

[Ano]

why waste money on that why not use just water, i personally think water should go die (somehow, who knows). but when your tired you like water enough to drink it, it doesn't make you sick unless you drink to much at one time. every time you change court, just get a sip and get ready to play again.

Okay, we need a short lesson here. If you play tennis for an hour or less, water is all you need. However, if you play tennis for more than an hour in hot environment, you certainly need more than water.

First, let’s focus on what we’re trying to accomplish by drinking sport drinks.

First, research in this are shows unequivocally that athletes will consume more of a water solution containing gucose than one without – it just tastes better.

Second, the ingestion of gucose stimulates sodium absorption.
( Schedl, H.P., J.A. Clifton. Solute and water absorption by the human small intestine. Nature 199: 1264-1267, 1963)

What folows sodium? Water! Athletes know that all too well. By taking in the right amount of gucose, you create an optimal environment for water absorption and fluid replenishment.

Now, many athletes think all they have to do is suck down a carb drink and glucose is imediately available at their muscle cells. No way. When you drink, where does the fluid go? To your stomach. And from where do you absorb fluid so that it enters your blood stream? Your smal intestine.

Therein lies the problem. Fluid has got to leave you stomach before it gets to your small intestine, your boodstream and your muscle cells.

Unfortunately, this can take a good deal of time, depending upon the drink solution.

The rate at which an ingested fluid empties from the stomach is called the gastric emptying rate.

What determines a solution’s gastric emptying rate and therefore the rate at which you benefit from that solution? The concentration of those ingredients.

You’d think that the more glucose you can get in a drink, the better, right? Wrong.

When carb drinks are too concentrated with glucose they become hypertonic, or more concentrated than body fuids.

This creates an “osmotic gradient,” which causes fluids to shift into the stomach in order to equal thing out (of course, this is exactly opposite of what you are trying to do by drinking).

Fluids are taken from the blood stream, causing your blood plasma volume to drop; increase in gastrointestinal fluid sends you to the bathroom and you may even experience gastrointestinal distress.

Try to find a solution that is 6 – 8 % simple sugar.

A solution too high in sugar also reduces the rate of water absorption and slows gastric emptying.

If a sport drink you particularly like is too concentrated, at least dilute it with water and sip slowly.

 

[tricky]

As a side note, current theory goes that acids (such as citric acid in drinks and vinegar) slows down gastric emptying. Somehow this helps to facilitate glycogen replenishment in the muscles.

I've found this to actually be kind of true. If I take in carbs post-WO and add either a piece of citrus fruit or a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, you get a nicer sense of fullness.

 

[zapvor]

hmm....gatorade! or water. or slurpee. or arizona iced tea. or powerade.

 

[The Ripper]

Gookinaide. It's inexpensive, not heavy or strong flavored and it's been around a long time. Works very well. FWIW, Gatorade does a good job, just has a lot of sugar and other not so good things for the body.

 

[psamp14]

just have a lemon-lime drink, like sprite, sierra mist, 7up, etc...

water is best for a short period of time but its up to personal preference on gatorade, powerade, ...some prefer cytomax

 

[johnny ballgame]

Gookinaide. It's inexpensive, not heavy or strong flavored and it's been around a long time.

Second recommendation for gookinade. Playing singles in the Atlanta summer, water alone doesn't do the job (even at <1 hour of playing, Ano). I've only tried the orange and fruit punch flavors, both very tasty (but not too strong)!

 

[TheKingOfClay]

water still the champion... can't beat it... and its CHEAP...

 

[p0w3r]

just have a lemon-lime drink, like sprite, sierra mist, 7up, etc...

water is best for a short period of time but its up to personal preference on gatorade, powerade, ...some prefer cytomax

cytomax is good, but nowhere near good tasting or colorless.

 

[Bottle Rocket]

It is nice to know that there are so many options for sports drinks, even though you have to buy the majority of them on the internet. Most of them really aren't that inexpensive. My issue is believing the claims made by each manufacturer. I just don't know enough about the subject.

I think I'll stick with my Gatorade. You can get small tub of it in powder form from Wal-Mart for around $7. It makes somewhere around 5 gallons when mixed and it lasts me a very long time. I just mix some up in a 17 ounce bottle before every tennis match I play. It is cheap, proven to be effective, and tastes too good - forcing me to keep drinking fluids. Obviously there are other things going on there, but when I'm out on the court for 5+ hours, I am very glad I've got the red stuff.

Ano, I also want to thank you for your all your posts. I've done a lot of searches in this forum and everytime I come across one of your posts, it is a pleasant surprise to see all the evidence presented with references and clear language. All your posts are very interesting and obviously very informative.

 

[LuckyR]

Gookinaide. It's inexpensive, not heavy or strong flavored and it's been around a long time. Works very well. FWIW, Gatorade does a good job, just has a lot of sugar and other not so good things for the body.

Yeah Gookinaid has glucose too, but it also has fructose (why? I have no idea) vit C, citric acid and coloring. It has more sodium than Gatorade and a good amount of potassium. Probably a better hydrator than gleukos alone, but adding a few shakes of table salt would bring gleukos to a better formula (IMO) than Gookinaid...

 

[FuriousYellow]

Second recommendation for gookinade. Playing singles in the Atlanta summer, water alone doesn't do the job (even at <1 hour of playing, Ano). I've only tried the orange and fruit punch flavors, both very tasty (but not too strong)!

Another Gookinaid drinker. I love the stuff, especially the citrus flavor. I use Gatorade on lighter days, but I have to dilute it almost 2-1 to tolerate it. If I know I'm going to be playing for over an hour in hot weather, I'll use the Gookinaid. I just feel better afterwards when I use it.

 

[lakis92]

Ano's post is facts. Why not drink 500ml of Gatorade with 500ml of water. This will have a less intense taste and give you what you need.

 

[Urza187]

I've heard from a person that i've respected said that half gatorade and half water mixed is the best for you. It's just not made that way because people prefer the taste of gatorade and not the watered down version(which I really can't taste that much of a difference). I've never gone with anything else. The only thing I do differently is after taking a drink or drinks of that, I take a sip or two of just water to wash it down. Sometimes the taste makes you want to drink a lot more, anda buddy of mine says that the sugar sticks to his throat so he does the same(follow it with water). It seems to work for me. Heck, with my way, you double your gatorade supply! I buy the powder, it's much cheaper.

 

[Serve em Up]

Ano always seems to have the right info on here. I've been running and playing tennis. I've had several episodes of bad cramps. Not during activity but mostly at night (Charlie Horses). Affected areas is my arch in my foot and my Hams.

I've researched the web and discovered that deficiencies in Sodium, Potasium, Magnesium, and dehydration are the culprits. Gatrorade, Accelerade, Powerade, Vitamin Water, Propel etc may have some sodium but very little Potssium and Magnesium. I read a post that suggested using Morton lite salt which is 50-50 Soidium and Potassium chloride to spike your Gatorade.

Any comments. I'm a heavy sweater. My runs usually last 1 to 1 1/2 hour, sometimes in 80+ degree weather.

 

[K-LEG]

Water works for me.

 

[PDRPPHVS+]

i do like gatorade but caused many stomach cramps and decided to switch:

1). Half a cup of grape juice
2). Half a cup of water
3). And a some squeezed lemons

tasted great

 

[xtremerunnerars]

Are you sure it was the gatorade that did it? Maybe you drank too much too quickly?

During my interval workouts I just drink diluted gatorade, but during a really long pickup soccer night I put creatine, whey powder, and dextrose in.

 

[federer envies me]

I use accerlerade. It lasts so much longer than gatorade and powerade and is not as sugery as gatorade

 

[Cindysphinx]

Gatorade gives me dry mouth.

And doesn't it contain High Fructose Corn Syrup?

 

[Hewitt Aussie]

Cytomax citrus tastes great.

 

[Hewitt Aussie]

I just ordered a tub of gookinaid citrus, i hope its good!

 

[lakis92]

water still the champion... can't beat it... and its CHEAP...

We don't know for how long it will be cheap!

 

[LuckyR]

Gatorade gives me dry mouth.

And doesn't it contain High Fructose Corn Syrup?

Yup...........

 

[treo]

For several years I drank watered down sports drinks including Gookinade/Hydralyte while playing on hot days. If I had a tough 3 hour 3-setter, I would often get leg cramps. This summer I played at 5 tough 3 hour matches in hot humid weather and only drank water and had no cramps at all. I sweat more than others and I noticed when drinking only water I drink more than if I was drinking a sports drink.

 

[LuckyR]

For several years I drank watered down sports drinks including Gookinade/Hydralyte while playing on hot days. If I had a tough 3 hour 3-setter, I would often get leg cramps. This summer I played at 5 tough 3 hour matches in hot humid weather and only drank water and had no cramps at all. I sweat more than others and I noticed when drinking only water I drink more than if I was drinking a sports drink.

That is interesting. Many would read this and assume that the less electrolytes (none) in the water somehow helped with cramps. Of course this is not true. If you drank more water because you hate the taste of sports drinks, that is the key, the taste, not the contents of the drink. No drink will do you any good if you don't drink it...

 

[Pleepers]

Now, many athletes think all they have to do is suck down a carb drink and glucose is imediately available at their muscle cells. No way. When you drink, where does the fluid go? To your stomach. And from where do you absorb fluid so that it enters your blood stream? Your smal intestine.

Therein lies the problem. Fluid has got to leave you stomach before it gets to your small intestine, your boodstream and your muscle cells.

When carb drinks are too concentrated with glucose they become hypertonic, or more concentrated than body fuids.

This creates an “osmotic gradient,” which causes fluids to shift into the stomach in order to equal thing out (of course, this is exactly opposite of what you are trying to do by drinking).

A solution too high in sugar also reduces the rate of water absorption and slows gastric emptying.

Hi Ano, I thought the majority of water absorption occurred in the large intestine while most protein, fat, and sugar breakdown and absorption occurred in the small intestine -with relatively little water absorption? I also don't think it takes long for water to pass from the stomach to the small intestine when there is no food present -but I don't have any exact numbers or articles to quote (maybe some homework for later )

And I don't see how the hypertonic environment created by sugary drinks are cause for alarm when considering any osmotic pull of water out of the tissue and into the stomach. I can see how some water might leak out of cell "leak channels" but nothing that will considerably dehydrate the person drinking the "concentrated" drink. I mean when we eat food, which is extremely more hypertonic than sugary drinks, and water does not rush out of the tissue and dehydrate us? We have water channels that dictate the majority of the flow of water, and from what I can remember there are not a lot of these in the stomach or small intestine. The epithelial lining is, from what I understand, fairly water-tight with its tight junctions. It could be that the increase in sugar in the blood (from the drink) is pulling water out of the tissue and dehydrating, but I think the liver would have a strong influence over this without much cause for alarm either? I haven't done a review of the literature or my textbooks yet, but I'd be interested to see how you arrived at these statements. Thanks.

 

[Ano]

Hi Ano, I thought the majority of water absorption occurred in the large intestine while most protein, fat, and sugar breakdown and absorption occurred in the small intestine -with relatively little water absorption? I also don't think it takes long for water to pass from the stomach to the small intestine when there is no food present -but I don't have any exact numbers or articles to quote (maybe some homework for later )

And I don't see how the hypertonic environment created by sugary drinks are cause for alarm when considering any osmotic pull of water out of the tissue and into the stomach. I can see how some water might leak out of cell "leak channels" but nothing that will considerably dehydrate the person drinking the "concentrated" drink. I mean when we eat food, which is extremely more hypertonic than sugary drinks, and water does not rush out of the tissue and dehydrate us? We have water channels that dictate the majority of the flow of water, and from what I can remember there are not a lot of these in the stomach or small intestine. The epithelial lining is, from what I understand, fairly water-tight with its tight junctions. It could be that the increase in sugar in the blood (from the drink) is pulling water out of the tissue and dehydrating, but I think the liver would have a strong influence over this without much cause for alarm either? I haven't done a review of the literature or my textbooks yet, but I'd be interested to see how you arrived at these statements. Thanks.

Hi Pleepers, I arrived at these statements after reading a few text books on exercise physiology and an article written by Bob Lefavi Phd and Tom Deters, DC.

My trusted text books about physiology are :

1. Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance by William McArdle, Frank Katch and Victor Katch

2. Physiology of Sport and Exercise by Jack Wilmore Phd and David Costill Phd

3. Molecular and Cellular Exercise Physiology by Frank Mooren, MD and Klaus Volker, MD

I have ordered 2 more books from amazon.( 'Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism' by Sara M. Hunt and James L. Groff and 'ACSM's Advanced Exercise Physiology). Both books are recommended by Kevin T. But the books are not arrived yet.

You made a very interesting and valid points, and I could be wrong. I have to read all the books again. Dang, one book is about 700 pages. 5 books are about 3500 pages.

I'll keep in touch with you.

Oh, btw, Kevin T, if you read this post, please give your opinion. Thanks.

 

[koopa_troopa]

I'm not very familiar with the contents of these drinks, but I wouldn't be too concerned about their sugar contents. First, cell/blood solute concentrations are very high, I doubt the sugar concentrations in these drinks is sufficiently high enough to create a high osmotic pressure. Furthermore, whatever you ingest is further diluted by the contents of the stomach (and slightly more by pancreatic secretions). Also as already mentioned water transport between intestinal cells/interstitial space is restricted. Our bodies are pretty well adapted for these things.