Walking down the beverage aisle you are greeted by a plethora of sports drinks, many adorned with bright colors, that appear to pop off the shelf.
The first sports drink developed in the U.S. came from the University of Florida in 1965. The university’s physicians developed what would later be known as Gatorade, to help replenish the electrolytes and carbohydrates football players lose while sweating in the hot sun.
Stephen Webster/ OhioHealth OhioHealth
“Some athletes are more at risk for losing electrolytes,” Amy Harris, athletic trainer and leader of the Runner’s Clinic at OhioHealth, says. “We have some athletes who are salty sweaters and they’ll see that after they work out, they may have kind of sandpaper-feeling skin, where their skin is rough from all that sodium being on their skin, or they may notice that they have white marks where they sweat on their T-shirts when it dries.”
Now almost 60 years later, Gatorade is no longer the sole sports drink option at your local convenience store and carbohydrates and electrolytes aren’t the only things these drinks offer. One trend in sports drinks on the market is coconut water-based drinks. While coconut water does naturally have potassium and magnesium, two electrolytes that are important to replenish after a sweaty workout, scientists are divided over whether coconut water is truly more hydrating than H₂O.
Caffeine intake
Another type of popular drink that some consume before workouts is energy drinks or drinks with high levels of caffeine. While it may seem like having more caffeine-fueled energy would be beneficial to your athletic performance, that is not always the case. In fact, you could be damaging your heart.
“If you have too much caffeine, that can increase heart rate and it can also cause some GI distress, so athletes want to make sure that they are being careful if they are consuming anything with caffeine in it,” Harris says. “If you have that cardiac stress of an already increased heart rate from exercise and then you increase it more, that’s a bad thing. It just puts more strain on the heart muscle.”
If you must consume caffeine, Harris recommends consuming no more than 100 milligrams, or an average cup of coffee, before a workout. Many popular energy drinks on the market contain 200-300 milligrams of caffeine, more than double that.
“The tricky thing, with a lot of energy drinks, is some of them have higher doses, like 300 or 400 milligrams,” Harris says. “Oftentimes, even a single serving can of an energy drink will have multiple servings in it, so you really have to look at the serving sizes too, because it may be a single serving 20-ounce can, but if you look at the back, it’ll say that it’s actually four servings.”
Sugar levels
While drinks such as Gatorade and Pedialyte with electrolytes, carbohydrates and sugar may look appealing, consuming excess sugar and carbohydrates isn’t healthy. If you’re watching your weight, these nutrients could set you back, especially if you’re consuming more than what’s recommended by a doctor.
On the flip side, if you are an endurance athlete spending hours a day doing intense exercise, sugar-free versions of these drinks may not be the best option.
“Your long-distance runners, your tri-athletes, people who are out there for multiple hours, they really need to make sure they’re replacing (the calories),” Harris says. “People with multiple practices, like our football players that are doing two-a-days, they need that sugar because of their high levels of activity. If you’re just doing a 30-minute workout, you can probably go with the sugar free.”
Protein post-workout
While not based on hydration, protein drinks are another type of popular drink among athletes. The protein element comes from a variety of sources, but most are typically animal-based including eggs, casein, milk and whey. In recent years there has been a trend of plant-based protein drinks using protein sources such as soy and peas.
Protein drinks are best consumed after a hard workout, especially a strength workout such as lifting weights, to help repair muscles.
“Having some protein within about 90 minutes after exercise is really important,” Harris says. ” “It’s not so much about how much protein you have as it is that you have protein in that window because our body can soak it up and if you wait longer, then your muscles don’t have what they need to rebuild.”
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
