Best Sports Drink

What is the best sports drink? You can find hundreds of sports drinks on store shelves - but which really enhance your performance, and there are just expensive sugar water? 

It depends on what type of athlete you are. Do you sometimes play a stop and go sports? Are you a tenacious athlete? This question really can not answer without knowing who the sports drink too. We think Tiger Woods in a golf tournament, have different needs than someone who is running a marathon. A child's need to rehydrate while you play outside, is different from an older adult, a woman needs is different than a man. 

Basically, all need to rehydrate from water and minerals, they have lost through sweat during the activity they are doing. So to break this broad topic down to Rehydrating need for a child versus an adult. 

Most supermarkets and convenience stores are equipped with neon-colored sports drinks and vitamin-fortified "designer water."

These bottled drinks promise to give the drinker the energy and vitality - some even advertise vague rewards as "equilibrium", "focus" and relaxation. But the average consumer will have no real advantage of sports drinks that Americans spent over $ 5.4 trillion last year. 

It is a marketing gimmick, pure and simple, "said Keith-Thomas Ayoob, nutritionist in New York at Albert Einstein Medical College. There is a common consensus among health experts that sports drinks have electrolytes and sodium that are beneficial for professional athletes and marathon, but without giving any substantial value to a normal person.

"There is a certain appeal in drinking what Olympic athletes drink," Ayoob said, "but it just water if you're doing 10 minutes on a treadmill." And because many enhanced waters contain only small amounts of essential nutrients, Ayoob advises consumers to look elsewhere for nutrition.

"This is what we have food," told Ayoob. 

Other health experts question about sugar and calories these drinks can add to a person's diet. Dr. said it is a way to sell soda to health-conscious audience. At Yale University School of Medicine David Katz, an expert in nutrition and health. "If you are training for the NFL, so Gatorade on the sidelines is reasonable," said Katz. "But most people use them badly." Not only are you not getting any benefit, you also get more calories and sugar, "Katz added." With regard to calories and sugar, just make sure those calories come from your diet somewhere else. " 

But manufacturers of sports drinks made their products are healthy and safe. Craig Horswill, senior scientist at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute in Barrington, Ill., notes that Gatorade and similar sports drinks are lower in calories than many other beverages. Gatorade "has fewer calories than soft drinks and milk," Horswill said. He also stressed that sports drinks are designed for people who participate in sports. And a substantial body of evidence pointing to the benefits that sports drinks may be over water for serious athletes. 

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine described condition is called hyponatremia, where the marathon and other elite athletes can suffer dangerously low levels of sodium in the blood due to over-hydration with water. But not all sports drinks provide enough sodium to offer real protection against hyponatremia. This year, Gatorade is introducing a new drink called Gatorade Endurance Formula, with more sodium and potassium than his regular formula. 

But ultimately, many in the industry say consumers must decide whether to use sports drinks as part of a serious exercise regimen, or just a sugar-laden soda substitute. "Gatorade is formulated for performance and safety of the athlete," Horswill said. The main point is exercise and be more physically active, rather than focusing on diet. Consumers should be aware of what they are time consuming. "

Others in the industry also placed on the consumer to smart eating choices. "Basically people who have sedentary lifestyles need to make choices,"  told Ray Crockett, spokesman for Coca-Cola Company, which produces Powerade sports drinks and others.