There is a plethora of drinks on the market seemingly available for any particular focus. With words like isotonic, electrolytic, taurine, aspartame-free and others, it's no surprise that people often make the wrong choice for their chosen exercise. There is no doubt that sports drinks are beneficial to certain people, but be wary as they do contain significant carbohydrates which if not utilised for exercise, will hinder weight loss. There is certainly a place for energy drinks but consumers must be aware of possible side effects that are all too often ignored. Sometimes water is the best answer, so here's why.

Unless you are an athlete, it is unlikely that you will require sports drinks every day. Athletes lose valuable body salts (sodium, potassium, etc.) during heavy, endurance based exercise and sports drinks help to rapidly replenish these salts, reducing recovery time. It is true that using sports drinks after occasional exercise (less than 4 times per week is occasional exercise) will aid recovery time. But if your exercise is for a program helping you lose weight, the sports drink will negate some of the good work you have just done. A typical sports drink might contain just under 200 Calories which is roughly equivalent to an 80kg person running for 15minutes! Check out our diet profile to see how this was calculated. This extra energy is no problem for athletes who are using all of these calories and do not need to lose weight, but if you are trying to drop a few kilos, it is better just to drink water. What little salt you do lose during moderate exercise will be regained at your next meal time.

The new energy drinks out are exceptionally high in sugar (they border on being syrups) and hence contain huge amounts of energy; a problem for weight loss. Nonetheless, it has been shown that the caffeine and taurine in these drinks can help heavy weightlifters with a small energy burst for such things as weightlifting competitions. Because the osmolarity of these drinks is very high (osmolarity means the amount of water a substance absorbs from another), they actually dehydrate you. In addition, the caffeine in these energy drinks is a diuretic (which makes you want to pass urine more frequently), and this can be a dangerous combination for endurance athletes or regular people who do not drink enough water. Even the sugar free energy drinks contain stimuli in them that can adversely affect your nervous system in the short term for sensitive people. So our advice is to use these drinks very sparingly on special occasions!

So is good old water the answer? For most people, yes. And it does not even have to be bottled water either - tap water is fine. Plus, tap water is better for the environment, the fluoride in it promotes healthy teeth, and it's almost free! Nevertheless, try to always carry a bottle of water (that can be refilled) with you throughout the day to ensure that you remain hydrated. Hydration is the key to weight loss as it promotes a more rapid metabolism, which in turn helps you to burn energy more easily (see earlier article on the Base Metabolic Rate - BMR).

 
So in summary, drink up!

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