With catchy names, health claims and promises of replenishing electrolytes like never before, sports drinks sales are soaring. Should you fall for the hype?
There’s No Sport In Sports Drinks
While sales of soda are decreasing in the US, sports drinks sales have never been higher, increasing 17% between 2004 and 2008. According to a survey, kids and teenagers are the most likely group to consume them because they want to quench their thirst, seek a soda substitute, increase their energy, and boost their sports performance. The problem is – less than 20% of them engage in enough physical activity to justify drinking all these rainbow drinks. There’s no question that children shouldn’t consume sports drinks the way they do it these days… but are they any better for YOU?
Do You really Need Sports Drinks?
When it comes to adults, sports drinks are usually consumed by active individuals who already make healthy choices, unlike soft drinks which are closely related to sedentary lifestyles and obesity. But the truth is – even if you train for long period of times, sports drinks will probably slow down your fat loss.The extra sugar will prevent you from tapping into your fat reserves when exercising, and the artificial ingredients are just not worth it.
What If I’m An Athlete?
If you’re an athlete, most organizations like the Olympic committee recommend sports drinks for exercise sessions that last more than one hour. That being said, remember that the sports drinks industry is very lucrative, and could therefore be very influential to what official recommendations are made to athletes worldwide. It shouldn’t be a big surprise to you that the American College of Sports Medicine started recommending athletes to drink as much sports drinks as they can tolerate – 4 years after a very generous $250,000 donation to their association. This conflict of interest and big push on the use of sports drinks has been criticized by many researchers, who point out that if athletes would just listen to their bodies and thirst mechanism, they would do just fine.
When Sports Drinks Lose The Nutrition Game
If you exercise very intensely and need a drink to rehydrate your body and replenish your electrolytes, you need to try unsweetened coconut water – which beats sports drinks hands down in every category.
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Coconut water is very low in calories, and packs up more than 13X the potassium and 3X the sodium contained in sports drinks, without any added sugar, artificial flavoring or coloring. I think we have a clear winner.
What Are Electrolytes Anyway?
No other term as been as misused and overhyped as “electrolytes”. What are they exactly? Electrolytes are minerals your cells (especially nerve, heart, muscle) use to carry electrical impulses across your body, and that are essential to performance and energy metabolism. When you exercise heavily, you lose electrolytes, particularly sodium and potassium; that’s why those two minerals can be found in most sports drinks. The major electrolytes are sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, phosphate and sulfate.
Summary--> If you want to burn more fat, never consume liquid calories during your exercise.
--> Sports drinks are overhyped and you probably don't need them unless you're a high-performance athlete.
--> If you're an athlete, stick with coconut water – which contains many times more electrolytes with no added sugar or artificial ingredients.
