Ensuring Safety from Dehydration: The Sports Drink Concept

Sports drinks, those colorful beverages that promise to pump you with the moisture and vital nutrients that you lose when you sweat them out during athletic activity, have been with us for nearly forty years now. A team at the University of Florida hit upon just the right recipe to get this done. The drink that they discovered, known by the commercial name of Gatorade today, was just the right taste and had just the right properties to help athletes perform better with better defense against dehydration.

Gatorade is the face of the modern sports drink industry. It has today, crossed over from being a sport drink to be a regular soft drink substitute. But this kind of popularity for a niche product brings its own set of problems.

It has been learned in surveys today that more than three-quarters of all athletes today prefer sports drink after a workout than a drink of water. Such dependence on what is after all a commercial product against dehydration, may turn out to be less than wise.

Any living being depends on a steady supply of water to manage metabolic processes such as digestion; athletes, who favor sports drinks over plain water to hydrate themselves during athletic activity, must understand that a sports drink is not quite a substitute. It helps in some ways, and it is a stimulant, but cannot take the place of good quantities of water consumed.

The carbohydrate ingredient contained within sports drinks often help by providing an available source of energy for tired muscles during athletic activity. Fatigue is kept away, and athletes benefit from quite a boost. It is the carbohydrate content and not some mystery ingredient that is the secret of the performance enhancement seen in these products.

Apart from the carbohydrates contained in them, sports drinks are usually laced with all kinds of electrolytes, minerals and nutrients. These replenish the body with nutrients lost through sweat and metabolic processes during physical activity.

Sports drinks can be broadly seen as belonging to three types of categories, for the functions they fulfill:

Isotonic drinks
The most popular kind, these have less than 10% sugar content and a nutrient concentration that is similar to the body's natural levels. These are used by people who indulge in sustained activity.

Hypertonic drinks
These contain nutrients at a concentration at a lower proportion than what the body is used to, and more sugar too. These are best for gymnasts.

Hypotonic drinks
These are more concentrated than normal body fluids. These are appropriate for marathon runners.

The body's store of electrolytes and carbohydrates affects the readiness with which liquid is absorbed by the body. Adequate levels of carbohydrates help the stomach stave off hunger for longer, and healthy electrolyte levels help prevent dehydration.

Sports drinks do not need to be a kind of over-the-counter supplement whose efficacy you simply make a guess at. It is possible that doctors are aware of the best drinks to suit your level of activity and your body type. Sports drinks are but one of the many needs the body has for superior physical fitness and safety. If you haven't done so already, you really should give sports drinks a chance.