The Lowdown on Sports Drinks at He's Fit

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The Lowdown on Sports Drinks

Posted February 23, 2009 at 10:00 AM by Donnell Peavy

Section: His Health, Physical Health, Lifestyle Health, His Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Supplements

tiger and gatorade In the 1960’s, a certain football coach had a dilemma. His players were suffering from heat related illnesses during games and practices and he had no idea why. In an attempt to find a solution, he met with the universities physicians to discuss the issue.

The physicians came to the conclusion that the problem was that players were sweating out valuable fluid and electrolytes which were not being replaced. In addition, glycogen stores were depleted for energy use, and they weren’t being replenished either. This led to the players feeling run down.

The physicians, armed with this information locked themselves in the lab and formulated a drink containing the necessary balance of carbs and electrolytes to replenish what the players lost through sweat. The salt content of the drink also had another effect – it induced thirst in the players, so they consumed more water. The improvements in performance produced by the drink earned it instant fame. Today, you know the drink as Gatorade. True story.

Sports drinks are common in many households today, for the reasons listed above and because of marketing. We are constantly fed the notion that we need sports drinks if we are even remotely active in our daily lives. But do you really need sports drinks to perform at your best? What benefit will the weekend warrior or the hobbyist athlete derive from sports drinks? It depends on the duration and intensity of what you are doing.

Sports drinks contain salt and carbohydrates, which translates to calories. If you are performing intense physical activity for more than an hour, you will likely have depleted enough glycogen and electrolytes to deem a need for a sports drink. However, if the duration was less than an hour, you may be better off staying away from the extra calories and just drinking water.

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94 Responses to “The Lowdown on Sports Drinks” (Leave a reply)

Abba said:

I love drink!
June 8, 2008 at 03:11 AM
vev from teak furniture from Canada said:

Good information! This would be very useful and helpful to all active athletes.
October 23, 2008 at 09:41 PM
Mac @ Motorcycle Fairings said:

Excellent! now I now when and which is better when doing physical exercise.
November 11, 2008 at 01:38 PM
acai berry products said:

Looks like tiger is drinking gatorade there (which apparently is one of the healthiest.) From what I’ve heard, they all have a ton of sugar though. Why not mix up a delicious acai berry smoothie, ya know??
December 1, 2008 at 06:40 PM
Lose Belly fat said:

Good article a lot of people don’t realize how many calories are in these sports drinks.
December 16, 2008 at 05:51 PM
New York Training said:

There is a pretty cool commercial that tells this story. This started at the Universtity of Florida - hence the name GATORaid.
December 23, 2008 at 02:39 PM
Excel Training said:

Gatoraid is thirst aid! I like the commercial with Keith Jackson telling the story from the college football team - Florida Gators.
December 23, 2008 at 02:41 PM
Janet said:

Sports drinks are just a waste of money and useless, even harmful if one drinks too much of them. Drinking just water is still the best.
December 23, 2008 at 03:50 PM
zara clothing said:

They should drink pure water instead of those chemicals!
January 4, 2009 at 02:45 AM
dora the explorer from Canada said:

“I love to drink”

C’mon man you gotta do better than that!! Anyways, good read. Headline caught my eye. I would like to think these drinks have some type of extra benefit.
January 10, 2009 at 02:21 AM
Modern Furniture from USA said:

I think sports drinks are for professional athletes only. As mentioned, if one does not get involved in extreme sporting activity for at least one hour, a sports drink is not really necessary. A good healthy diet should be enough.
January 12, 2009 at 02:48 PM
ecommerce SEO said:

I totally agree with the Modern Furniture guy on this one… Sports drinks are meant to give added nutrition to people who really need quick forms of energy. People (who are not athletes) who eat a healthy balanced diet do not at all need sports drinks for any of their activities.
January 13, 2009 at 04:45 PM
Acai Fruit of Life said:

We used to drink sugar water right before track meets/events when I was in high school. It was just to give you a modest boost right before your event - I don’t think I needed it on a daily basis or when I was thirsty! Same goes for sports drinks…
January 15, 2009 at 08:24 PM
wholesaler said:

As mentioned, if one does not get involved in extreme sporting activity for at least one hour, a sports drink is not really necessary. A good healthy diet should be enough.
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March 3, 2009 at 09:24 AM
vigrx from usa said:

only drink water! great article bt the way
April 2, 2009 at 08:37 AM
Mexican Breakfast said:

Uhmm, yes water is good but it doesn’t have the vitamins and proteins the body needs to keep going.
April 7, 2009 at 08:44 PM
Forex News from USA said:

Far too often I see people sitting in an office drinking Gatorade. Great way to get fat! That is like putting rocket fuel in your lawnmower, not needed, and almost sure to cause some problems.

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May 2, 2009 at 04:18 AM
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The drink is not bad when it is cold.
May 20, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Ron Russell from Mississippi said:

Sport drinks are all the rage in some circles, but I must admit I have little use for them and sometimes get tired of the hype.
May 22, 2009 at 06:56 PM
Donnell Peavy said:

Guys, Thank you so much for the compliments! This company has pretty much gone under - they don’t support he’s fit anymore. I think all efforts were focused on “The Final Sprint” I am working on some other projects now though and can keep you updated.
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The salt content of the drink also had another effect – it induced thirst in the players, so they consumed more water. The improvements in performance produced by the drink earned it instant fame.
June 11, 2009 at 08:14 AM
It's mister for you said:

A homemade Gatoraid recipe:

- 1 serving of orange juice
- 2 servings of water
- a pinch of salt

It contains all the electrolytes and it tastes like green/yellow Gatorade minus the disgusting sugar!
June 13, 2009 at 07:52 PM
Web Design Company from India said:

I don’t know where they get them from, but they’re: sodium, potassium, chloride and Co2. It sounds like they’d be easy enough to get...in bulk from a vitamin supplier or something.
June 16, 2009 at 01:33 PM
Day Spa Chatswood from India said:

I agree, When you sweat you lose more than water. You lose electrolytes that need to be replaced. If you drink just water you can get water toxicity, which can actually kill you. Doesn’t happen that often and you have to drink a lot of water to do that.
A drink with electrolytes will definately help you more than just plain water. Much healthier when you are sweating a lot.
June 17, 2009 at 05:25 AM
Walsall dentists from United Kingdom said:

Sports drinks are nothing but the energy drinks but sometimes they may be not made out from natural ingredients.
June 17, 2009 at 05:38 AM
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nice information!sports drinks are all the rage in some circles but i must admit i have little use for them. thank you.
June 22, 2009 at 02:09 AM
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I don’t know where they get them from, but they’re: sodium, potassium, chloride and Co2. It sounds like they’d be easy enough to get...in bulk from a vitamin supplier or something
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The salt content of the drink also had another effect – it induced thirst in the players, so they consumed more water. The improvements in performance produced by the drink earned it instant fame..
July 3, 2009 at 09:47 AM
bingo live free from India said:

The drinks are very effective at preventing loss of strength due to electrolyte depletion, but in most sports, electrolyte depletion is seldom a problem.
July 11, 2009 at 06:24 AM
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I agree, When you sweat you lose more than water. You lose electrolytes that need to be replaced. If you drink just water you can get water toxicity, which can actually kill you. A drink with electrolytes will definately help you more than just plain water.
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July 13, 2009 at 01:32 AM
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Consuming plain water over periods of exercise is very good, but drinking too much water will cause bloating, suppression of thirst and further drinking and is not retained for as long a period as a sports drink. Water contains no carbohydrates or electrolytes.
July 13, 2009 at 07:40 AM
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Energy drinks generally don’t offer much in terms of nutrition, yet there’s no denying the popularity of these caffeine-packed elixirs.
July 15, 2009 at 07:11 AM
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July 16, 2009 at 05:16 AM
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I think sports drinks are for professional athletes only. The drinks are very effective at preventing loss of strength due to electrolyte depletion.
July 20, 2009 at 07:41 AM
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Obviously sport drinks are helpful to rejoice your body. You lose electrolytes that need to be replaced. If you drink just water you can get water toxicity, which can actually kill you.
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July 24, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Fat Loss 4 Idiots from MO said:

I love Gatoraid, BUT there is a lot of sugar and if you’re on certain types of medication the high Potassium content will reek havoc. So unless you become seriously dehydrated and copious amounts of water have left your electrolytes out of balance, water would be your best drink.
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July 27, 2009 at 10:50 PM
Bingo Live from india said:

All I know is that most of them contain high fructose corn syrup which is very bad and linked the diabetes. It is beyond me why they would put something so bad in a product they try to market as healthy.
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August 4, 2009 at 05:24 PM
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Sports drinks have their uses, some are very good, but don’t forget about plain old water.
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I’m doing an essay on the possible negatove effects of sports drinks and have come across some research about the fact that sports drinks contain carbohhydrates/ sweeteners etc with high glycemic index which is said to be bad for the body but I can’t find any actual proper info on whether these high glycemic foods increase fluid loss which is why they’re bad or… any ideas?
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October 3, 2009 at 02:51 PM
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Davenport Ranch from Austin, TX said:

This is right, in my opinion if you think that you’ll need all those energies then go ahead and drink it, it would really benefit you but just on a day when you’re planning to watch TV whole day, will just add to your calorie counter.
November 7, 2009 at 06:47 PM
Mark Testa said:

Yeah sports drinks are quite good for athletes or those who work out in the gym heavily, but for normal people it might just be adding few more energy levels which won’t be utilized well.
November 8, 2009 at 04:47 PM
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Water is the best when our body gets dehydrated. It also helps in clearing the toxic in our body. Sport drinks we cannot rely on them much as they are synthetic drinks.
November 8, 2009 at 10:58 PM
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When I was in the past in these sports drinks very helped me and brought me a lot of energy during the effort, not just any athletes drinking these drinks them, apparently they are useful.
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Athletes burn a lot as well so they may have to use these energy drinks. It sort of helps to stay hydrated on the field as well because they sweat a lot.
November 26, 2009 at 05:34 PM
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November 27, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Erik from Detroit, MI said:

You’re better of drinking orange juice and water. Most of these sports drinks on the market are to make money off of you that’s all. Water is the main thing your body needs.
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