Strange "sports drinks". Clever villain that monopolize the market of food products, they create the demand. They come up with unnecessary items and then impose these goods to consumers, using bribes plugging the mouths of all those who are trying to find out the truth...

Drinks in all colors of the rainbow

2 Olympic week we got used to the fact that athletes often, and not only in the break, was applied to the bottles in which splashed some kind of liquid different colors. What is this water? Is it possible to drink only athletes or anyone? Moreover, it has already found on the shelves of our shops.

Voditsa yellowish, green, pink, blue, as copper sulphate, or whitish, more precisely, moonshine color. Another feature of these bottles - nipple-naraiana, thanks to it, you can drink, not screwing the tube directly on the run or sitting on the bike. All this so-called sports drinks. And those who attend fitness centers, they are well known. There they meet not less frequently than energy drinks with caffeine and other stimulants, and more often than just drinking or bottled mineral water.

We are gaining popularity, they can be bought in supermarkets. And in sports shops they are sold long ago, they are usually right in front of the counters. They are not cheap, standard half-liter plastic bottle is 50-60 rubles.

Simplicity is a pledge of success

To better understand what is at stake, will examine "the bones" of the drinks. Anatomy their very primitive, there is neither vitamins nor caffeine or other power specialists. Typical ingredients: water, sugar, salt (mainly sodium, potassium and magnesium), and then - nutritional supplements for consistency, taste and color (see table 1). Many of them are synthetic. For example, kuporosnoj color gives them dye brilliant blue FCF, or E133, belongs to a group of absolutely synthetic triarilmetanolovy dyes, chemical name of which is a few lines.

Table 1. The most popular sports drinks (specified on labels)

"Gatoraid Lemon"
Water, sugar, glucose syrup, fructose, acidity regulator citric acid, sodium chloride, sodium citrate, potassium monophosphate, magnesium carbonate, antioxidant ascorbic acid, stabilizers E, E, natural flavoring, coloring beta-carotene

"Gatoraid Blue Kul, Raspberry"
Water, glucose syrup, sugar, acidity regulator citric acid, sodium chloride, sodium citrate, potassium monophosphate, magnesium carbonate, stabilizers E, E, natural flavour

"Pourait IN Ice Storm"
Water, dextrose, fructose, acidity regulators (citric acid, potassium citrate), minerals (sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, potassium phosphate), natural flavors, stabilizers (gum Arabic, esters of glycerol and resin acids), sweetener (Sucralose, Acesulfame potassium), dye brilliant blue FCF


Isn't that all this resembles a regular soda, but only with no gas? What's the difference? And that in them in 2-2,5 times less sugar and more salts (see table 2). Manufacturers often called such solutions isotonic - this means that the total concentration of salts in them is about the same as in our blood. According to this principle is made and the so-called physiological solution, which is injected.

Manufacturers of sports drinks beat this izotonichnost, arguing that because of this, they are better quench thirst and fill loss of salts since then, allow greater efficiency during competitions and training and better restore after them. It all manufacturers like to reinforce the arguments of scientific research, which they held for their drinks.

Table 2. Salt and sugar in 100 ml of drinks (grams)

Drink
Kalor., kcal
Sugar
Sodium
Potassium
Chlorides
Magnesium

"Gatoraid lemon" and "Gatoraid blue Kul, Raspberry"
25
6
0,05
0,014
0,047
0,005

"Pourait IN Ice Storm"
16
3,9
0,051
0,013
Not specified
0,006

Drinking science

The scientists, who published right before the London Olympics serious research on sports drinks at very influential "British medical journal (BMJ), argue that the usefulness of sports drinks are not proven. According to the authors of the article, everything depends on skilful promotion of the goods - by creating entire scientific institutions, worryingly new "science of drinking".

It all started in the 1960s, when a specialist in diseases of the kidneys, a University of Florida Robert Cade did the first sports drink for the local football team "Alligators". And was named "Gatorade" (Gatorade). Dr. Cade mixed it out of the water, salts of potassium and sodium, sugar and lemon seasoning, the first batch was worth only 43 dollars.

Hard to believe, but this meager beginnings grew the global business. Practiced today global industrial giants. Only such global players and could give new "science of sports thirst" and ways of its realization (hydration) consumer impulse. Sports drinks, which, judging by the composition, still raise questions about their usefulness, steel for athletes is as important as sports equipment.

The basic position of "drinking science" can be reduced to such a postulate: to drink, drink and drink and the more the better. But... first, it is necessary to drink before the onset of thirst: our body, according to the adherents of this theory, feels it is already late, when the water losses are high. And to prevent this, you should drink in advance.

As found by the independent scientists, it has never proved, but the principle has become a cornerstone of hydration. Because thirst manufacturers are considered as unreliable, required new guidelines for the assessment of water content in the body. For this invented to assess the intensity of the color of urine using a special test strips: the darker, the more dehydrated.

The test strips were distributed to athletes, and tips for use included in the guidelines for them. After that many athletes literally get hung up on hydration, and urine. But the test is uninformative, it works only in the morning when you get up from the bed, and not after the training.

To clean water

In this science, as insisted the authors of the articles in the BMJ, too many unconfirmed facts and too little scientific evidence. The article provides a few examples of the most revealing is associated with a highly reputable not only at home but also in the world organization of the American College of sports medicine".

In 1996, the College published a Handbook with recommendations on drinking behavior. And there is reason to believe that they were taken under the influence of drink manufacturers. This organization, as it turned out, and not disputed by anyone, long cooperated with some manufacturers, receiving large donations.

Manufacturers of sports drinks are among the main sponsors and partners of the Olympic games, their influence is clearly visible even in the "International consensus Olympic Committee on sports nutrition". About this document writes Deborah Cohen, editor of clinical research BMJ. Many authors of this consensus for a long time and closely cooperate with companies that produce these drinks. She tells us about the influence of such official guides and experts on the Agency European Union food safety, which was also supported the reputation of water sports.

So lovers of the active life is 7 times to think before to compensate for the loss of body fluids immoderate consumption of water sports. It is cheaper and a fine drink proven crystal clear water?

By the way, with the recovery drinks should be on alert

The staff of the universities of Oxford and Harvard said that the passion for sports drinks threatens not only obesity, but also harms the cells of the brain increased content in the blood sodium (hypernatremia).

Experts examined 104 product, including consumed during training protein drinks, cocktails and sports drinks. Meanwhile, the scientists noted that the production and sale of sports drinks are increasing in the world. For example, over the past year, the increase was 10%. Buy them as athletes and wish to cheer up office workers.

Svetlana Mitrakova