Sports drinks are used to supplement the loss of electrolytes, water and energy after exercise, helping the athlete recover quicker by replacing the key ionic-substances back into the body. They are designed to give the athlete an equal amount of carbohydrates and fluids to provide an almost instant rehydration and refuel during physical activity. This essay will explain the purpose of the contents of sports drinks and their uses in the human body.
There are three main types of sports drinks; Isotonic, Hypotonic and Hypertonic. A hypotonic drink will contain a lesser concentration of sugars and electrolytes in comparison with a human body - meaning it would be absorbed faster than water. They contain more solvent than solute, meaning it would be less concentrated than inside of a cell. Most sports drinks are classified as Isotonic, meaning the concentration of electrolytes is similar to that found inside the cells, it will be absorbed at the same rate as water. These drinks contain equal amounts of solute and solvent, meaning it will be equal to that inside a cell. And lastly Hypertonic, there are were the concentrate is greater than that found in a human's body fluids. Hypertonic drinks are the slowest rate of absorption but offer the highest dosage of energy out of the three. This drink contains more solute than solvent, resulting in a more concentrated solution.
Sports drinks should contain 4-8% (4-8g/100ml) carbohydrate and 23-69mg/100ml sodium (American College of Sports 2007) to provide the best amount of fluid and fuel delivery. Studies have shown that sports drinks that contain Proteins and amino acids (in a concentration of 2%) provide a superior recovery in specific exercise scenarios. (Stearns et al. 2010) Carboh...
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...AA, 2013) But what drink to use is dependent on what you want to achieve when doing the physical activity. If you are attempting to do exercising to lose weight, or are doing it in short bursts (around 1hr), water is the way to go. For most people, “their fluid requirements can be met by water” (Professor Clare Collins, DAA, 2013), and they will generally not be sweating enough to lose many electrolytes. On the other hand, if you are an athlete and need to perform at your peak for a longer period of time, sports drinks are the way to go. When exercising, muscles use the stores of carbohydrates for fuel. These store will become depleted after around 90min, at which point fat is used instead. Fat is not an efficient source of energy, and the performance will drop indefinitely. The carbs in sports drinks help to keep athletes at their peak for longer periods of time.
Gatorade is one of many sports drinks that is out in the market. It was first made back in 1956 by a group of scientists in the University of Florida. The main reason Gatorade was made in the first place was to help the athletes of the university by replacing the body fluids that they lost during competitions especially in the hot weather of southern Florida. In a competition athletes lose water, carbohydrates and electrolytes through lots of sweating so Gatorade’s first priority was to replace them and re-energize the athletes. The first ever bottles of Gatorade that were created did not contain as much ingredients as todays Gatorades, and at first 10 players from the University’s Football team tested the drinks. It didn’t take long for the effects to show and the team quickly started to win their games. After the team’s results started to get better, Gatorade gained lots of attention from around the athletic community and after a few short years it was the official drink of the NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA, AVP, and the MLS. After all the l success, it was bought by Pepsi Company in 2001. This meant that it would no longer distribute its products to only the USA and Canada, but to the entire world and since then Gatorade products have been sent to almost 80 different countries. But the big question now, is that does it really help athletes? Was this the reason behind all the success of the Florida Gators through the 60’s?
AERENHOUTS, D., DERIEMAEKER, P., HEBBELINCK, M., & CLARYS, P. (2011). Energy and macronutrient intake in adolescent sprint athletes: A follow-up study. Journal Of Sports Sciences, 29(1), 73-82.
Early summer, about forty-eight years ago in 1965, University of Florida assistant football coach, Dwayne Douglas, sat down and wondered why so many of his players were suffering from heat strokes and heat related illnesses during games or practice. So, he went to the university physicians and asked them to determine why this was happening. Not long after it was discovered that two key factors were causing the Florida Gator players to suffer from these conditions: the fluids and electrolytes the players were losing during the events were not being put back into the body, and the massive amounts of carbohydrates the players' bodies used for energy were not being replenished. So, he decided to create Gatorade. There are plenty of Gurus out there who will sit and tell you that water is natural and it’s the best thing you could ever put into your body, but let’s get real I’ll take scientifically proven research over someone’s “word” any day. (Rovell 58)
That’s when a spark lit and I started asking questions such as, “What benefits do sports drink have over water or juices?”, “What exactly electrolytes are and how many are in sports drinks?” As a curious 12 year old, I started researching on sports drinks. I discovered electrolytes include potassium, sodium, calcium, and other elements too. As a person perspires he/she loses water and electrolytes in the body. Loss of electrolytes can lead to heat exhaustion, nausea, and other conditions. I continued my research.
13. Febbraio, M A, A Chiu, D J Angus, M J Arkinstall, and J A Hawley. 2000. “Effects of Carbohydrate Ingestion before and during Exercise on Glucose Kinetics and Performance.” Journal of Applied Physiology 89 (6) (December): 2220–2226. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11090571.
Before Gatorade, people were struggling to withstand the heat and live a healthy life. According to researcher Jess Novak, people are able to go outside and live an active life knowing that they can withstand the heat. Sports are an important part of people’s lives whether or not they participate or spectate. Gatorade helps to keep the culture of sports alive, successful and beneficial to the governments in which, the sports teams are
Glucose polymers are simply extended chains of glucose otherwise known as starch and cellulose (Glucose Polymers).Carbohydrates accompanied with fat are the two important factors to the body especially when it comes to exercising because they are both the human body’s “fuel” to have it be able to move. However too many carbohydrates aren’t healthy for the body either as it would mean too many calories and that could lead to many health risks such as diabetes. Gatorade, the sports drink is known as a good endurance carb energy drink while having a blend of carbs and vitamins that’s formulated to fuel muscles before exercise. Drinking more and more of the drink doesn’t mean you’ll get more energy, carbohydrates have a limited amount of what they could store in the
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
In 2002, a group of Australian researchers published a paper entitled the "Effect of different protocols of caffeine intake on metabolism and endurance performance". Caffeine use during sporting events has become much more popular and has widely studied. The purpose of the research was to examine the work increasing (ergogenic) effects of differing regiments of caffeine on metabolism and performance while simulating the typical nutritional preparation an athlete would do for a race. The study also sought to examine the effect of timing of caffeine intake, comparing results when caffeine was given before an event (precaf) to results from caffeine given during an event (durcaf). In addition, the researchers wanted to understand the practice of endurance athletes drinking defizzed Coca-Cola towards the end of a race. It was widely observed that many triathletes and marathoners feel they derive a boost from consuming Coca-Cola in the final stages of an event as a replacement to sports drinks.
Barnard, J. (1992) Caffeine in Sport: influence of endurance exercise on the urinary caffeine Concentration.
Being hydrated is important when performing exercise as it allows the athlete to execute the activity at their optimum. Dehydration has an effort on all aspect of carrying out exercise. A person’s body is made up of more than 90% of water. Dehydration causes an unbalance in water level in the blood system this means that the person’s blood becomes thicker and their body has to work harder to cause it to circulate. A lack of water also makes it harder for the blood cells to transport oxygen and remove toxins from the body. This also affects the rest of the cells in the body, leading to fatigue early on. This causes the duration, frequency and intensity of the exercise being carried out to
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...
Which drink you choose depends on what kind of working out you’re doing. If you are working out for about more than 60 minutes, then you should consider a sport drink. As explained in source A, sports drinks contain electrolytes
One of the biggest counterarguments that energy drink manufactures have is the initial purpose of why energy drinks were originally made. Initially energy drinks became popular among athletes. Advertising for these products typically featured images conjuring great muscle power and endurance, however, the scientific literature provides sparse evidence for an ergogenic role of energy drinks. Although the composition of energy drinks varies, most contain caffeine, carbohydrates, amino acids, herbs, and vitamins and other typical ingredients that may appeal to an athlete in training. Generally manufacturers claim that energy drinks will benefit consumers by enhancing their physical capacity and cognitive performance. However, it is
Certain foods can make a difference in sports competition. Conditioning, strength, and speed have been the focal points of athletic training for years; however, the research on nutritional elements indicates their importance to an athlete's optimal performance. Knowing the proper food to eat before, during, and after a physical activity can help an athlete in achieving their desired performance.