Sports Drinks: Fab or Fable?

There is a huge market for sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade. Every NFL and collegiate football team has giant coolers, bottles, and towels advertising them. I've often wondered if those coolers actually even contain the stuff. My teams have often filled them with good ol' fashioned ice water. Regardless, we have, as a society, been convinced that we will be healthier, faster, and stronger if we drink as much as possible of these highly marketed concoctions.

Assuming marketing doesn't equal reality (which is usually a safe bet), what IS the truth regarding the need for, and usefulness of, sports drinks? Generally, sports drinks are a combination of water for hydration, carbohydrates for quick energy, and sodium and potassium for electrolyte replacement. Some specialty drinks include protein for muscle recovery after exercise. A meal usually suffices.

The water and carbs seem pretty self-explanatory, but let's consider the electrolytes for a minute. Without getting boringly technical, electrolytes are chemicals needed in the body for proper cell function. You need them in your blood and body tissues to survive. On the minor end, electrolyte shortages can cause muscle cramping. This is no fun, especially in the middle of a soccer or football game. On the severe end, have you ever heard of water intoxication? If you drink too much water without electrolyte balance you develop what's called hyponatremia. Your cells and tissues swell, you get very sick, and if not treated quickly, you die. Bananas are a great source of electrolytes. The BYU football team swears by pickle juice.

Now that you've had your little physiology lesson for the day, back to sports drinks. Yes, they serve a purpose. They are very helpful for high intensity, long duration exercise like football two-a-days in 90 degree weather or marathon running/training. They taste better than plain water, so athletes are more likely to drink enough to keep properly hydrated, and they add a few carbs to keep energy up and electrolytes to replace those lost in sweat. The nutrient balance is also such that the drink is absorbed from the stomach quicker than plain water, so they can also be very useful in the case of severe vomiting and/or diarrhea, when proper hydration is very difficult but extremely important.

No, it's not important to have sports drinks for every practice, run, or when sitting around the house watching TV. They become just another drink option, at that point, and a rather expensive one at that. They are certainly a healthier choice than soda or most other sugary drinks, since they have significantly less sugar, but they are not necessary.

With all that said, if you are a hard-core athlete or just simply like to drink sports drinks, there is a way to get the benefits without having to fork out all that cash. The nutritional make-up can be relatively closely mimicked with some easy-to-make recipes. There are a million of them. They are all slight variations of the same idea. I've included a couple here that are simple and stick closely to the proper nutrient balance. Also, if you're really interested in more detail about fluid and nutritional replacement during exercise, the Gatorade website can actually be very informative. Just don't get sucked into all the advertising!

Juice Drink
1/2 cup orange juice or 2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 liters water

Kool-Aid Drink
1 pkg. unsweetened drink mix
10 tbsp sugar (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lite salt
2 liters water

In either case, just combine and stir the ingredients until dissolved. Refill empty Gatorade or Powerade bottles, or buy a reusable bottle and get sweating!