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Human body fluids and electrolytes
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In this project, I will investigate which drink provides more electrolytes: Gatorade, orange juice, coconut water, or spring water. Most experts agree that if you are participating in moderate exercise, drinking water should do the trick. But if you are exercising vigorously, you also need to replenish some of the salts that your body loses through sweat. These salts are called electrolytes. Water provides the liquid you need to avoid dehydration, but it does not have electrolytes. Electrolytes, such as sodium and potassium, are present in sweat. Chloride, calcium, and phosphate ions are also electrolytes.
An electrolyte is a substance that will dissociate into ions in a solution, which are found in most sports drinks. Electrolytes are some of the most complex nutrients. Electrolytes are positively or negatively charged ions that conduct electrical activity. In the body electrolytes must be present in proper concentrations in order to maintain fluid balance, muscle contraction and neural activity. The kidneys work to maintain electrolyte balance by conserving or excreting electrolytes. Water is drawn to locations where electrolytes are most concentrated. Therefore, electrolytes play an important role in maintaining the balance of water throughout the body, particularly during exercise when electrolytes and water can be lost through sweating.
Electrolytes lost in high concentrations through sweat include sodium and chloride, while electrolytes lost in low concentrations include potassium, magnesium and calcium. Electrolytes are important because they are what your cells use to maintain voltages across their cell membranes and to carry electrical impulses across themselves and to other cells. When you exercise, you notice sev...
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...Medicine. (2004). Dietary reference intakes for water, potassium, sodium, chloride, and sulfate. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press.
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It has long been established that both short and long-term exercise increase metabolic rate and heat production. This naturally predisposes participants to dehydration. Typical symptoms of dehydration include elevated temperature, fluid and electrolyte imbalance due to sweating, and loss of critical nutrients, such as glycogen (depleted via metabolic pathways). Many individuals participating in moderate to rigorous training schedules may engage in daily exercise, if not multiple exercise routines in one day (3,4,5,6). It then follows that the goal for these individuals should be avoidance of dehydration and maximization of rehydration through maintenance of electrolyte balance, replenishment of muscle glycogen, and plasma osmolality. Thus, examination of a fluid’s efficacy in these three areas is crucial. Through extensive research, it is evident that Gatorade will rehydrate faster and more effectively than water.
Fink, Heather Hedrick., Alan E. Mikesky, and Lisa A. Burgoon. (2012). Practical Applications in Sports Nutrition,3rd edition. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Galletti, F., Agabiti-rosei, E., Bernini, G., Boero, R., Desideri, G., Fallo, F., . . . Strazzullo, P. (2014, Excess dietary sodium and inadequate potassium intake by hypertensive patients in italy: Results of the MINISAL-SIIA study program. Journal of Hypertension, 32, 48.
...ble in a Gatorade bottle but these are the most important ones. The most chemistry that is present in sports drinks and in this case, Gatorade, is seen through the electrolytes. In a nutshell electrolytes are substances that are soluble in water and after being completely dissolved, they give ions. Our body consists of Cation and Anion electrolytes which are nutritionally referred to as Macrominerals. As stated before the balance level of electrolytes is every crucial for the human body, and if imbalanced the person can have serious and life threatening issues. But the only way to restore our electrolytes level is by consuming these sports drinks, so this is the main reason as for why even though the sports drinks have some negative aspects to them they are one of the cheapest and easiest ways a person can get the required electrolytes for their body.
In my science fair experiment I plan to measure the difference in electrolytes in orange juice and a sports drink. In order to test this I will use a multimeter. I think that people who are working out to their full potential will find it more useful to drink sports drinks after their workout. I believe this because my research shows that the harder you work out the more salts your body loses, sports drinks have a lot of those salts and can replenish them
...ction correctly. To help replace the electrolytes that are sweated out, Gatorade's recipe includes a carefully balanced mixture of these same electrolytes to keep the body hydrated and working properly. This is essential in environments where the body is pushed to its limits athletically.
The main ingredients in gatorade is water, high fructose corn syrup which is used for fluid absorption, taste, and the delivery of energy; citric acid which is used for flavoring and acidifying acid; Natural flavors which gives the gatorade a variety of different tastes; and salt to enhance the taste.
These last two years, however, I started to gain weight and have become concerned with my diet. Changing my poor eating habits has been difficult for me, however, having this assignment has taught me that it is not as difficult as I previously imagined. Nutrition experts in the United States and Canada have a list of standards with four list values. These list values are called the Dietary Reference Intakes. The DRI committee sets these values for vitamins, minerals, calories, and nutrients.
The major reason anyone drinks fluid before, during and after physical activity is to replace the water that is lost through sweat. If the water isn't replaced dehydration will occur and performance will be hampered. The purpose of Gatorade and other sports drinks is to help rehydrate your body quickly and help improve performance and productivity. This is accomplished through a well balanced mix of water, sugar (carbohydrates) and salts (electrolytes), the major ingredients in most sports drinks. These ingredients, combined with a variety of fruit flavors, create pleasant tasting drinks that according to the companies are suppose to help your athletic performance. Three major problems we face every day from physical exertion is the loss of water and electrolytes...
It was expected that the participants who drank water and exercised to have their blood sugars decrease after they had started exercising but elevate after a while due to glucagon being circulated. However, blood glucose levels will not increase a lot because water does not have sugar, therefore sugar levels will not have a big increase.
Samantha is a thirty year old woman. She is a veteran triathlete who has raced in a numerous amount of long distance events. She has been focusing mainly on preparing her body physically for her races but may have been overlooking the nutrition part of the preparation. She believes her pre-during-post diet is hindering her optimal performance. To better prepare herself, she is seeking out nutritional advice to better herself.
Sports drinks are a bad sport! Many people are in the habit of drinking a sports drink whenever they exercise to re-hydrate themselves. Sure they do hydrate, but unless you have just run an entire marathon, there is practically no benefit to a sports drink over water. The big down side is that they are packed full of sugar, so take a look at how much sugar you are taking in.
Furthermore, nutritional analysis of recording or reporting food intake data presents a main source of inaccuracy when determining habitual nutrient intake and it does not contain comprehensive information on the interpretation of results from dietary surveys (Macdiarmid, & Blundell, 1997). Therefore, biochemical markers of nutrient intake are now a valuable tool in validating dietary assessment methods (Bingham, 2002). For example, the double labelled water technique and 24-hour urine nitrogen and potassium are routinely used and potentially independent of the errors associated with dietary survey methods (Bingham, 2002).
Minerals (micronutrient), there are various minerals and each group plays a different role, calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and phosphorus (P) all help to harden bones and teeth. Iron (Fe) plays a crucial role in haemoglobin (Hb). Potassium (K), sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) are all helpful in maintaining the bodies PH balance and are all used in action potential (Grammarly,
Water facilitates the transportation system of the body. It is the medium by which all the other nutrients and other essential elements are distributed to every part of the body. Water also transports the waste from the body.