So I was thinking about drinks like Gatorade and Powerade. Both claim to help with rehydration especially for athletes. I know that drinks like the two brands I mentioned have electrolytes that aid in rehydration. I was wondering what the science was behind these rehydration beverages and which one is truly the best weather it be Gatorade, Powerade, BANa, Pedialyte, ect. If someone could answer my question it would be greatly appreciated.
To address your actual question, the science behind rehydration has to do with the transport and storage of solutes. Water moves towards areas with higher concentrations of solutes. So, in order to increase the water retention in cells you have to increase the solute concentration in cells. A way to manipulate the system that facilitates this concentration gradient is to utilize something like a glucose/sodium symporter. A symporter is a transmembrane protein that will transport two things across the membrane simultaneously, using a concentration gradient of one of the components to power the transport of the other. Drinks like gatorade or powerade mix sodium with glucose to take advantage of this symporter and increase your uptake of these two, causing the solute concentration to increase within the cell, which will naturally draw in more water. The same principle of solute concentrations holds true with other ions like potassium or magnesium. As for which drink is the best, I would guess that a complex mixture of ions is better than just Na+/glucose. I personally use Liquid IV, but something like Pedialyte plus some extra water is probably the best option for legit rehydration.
I mostly follow this sub to gather info, and feel relatively unknowledgeable on research and sciences.
However - I do live in a town with a lot of professional athletes and always see them drinking coconut water post event or workout. Not sure what the properties are, but I’ve heard it’s a good source of electrolytes and helps rehydrate.
Different sports drinks on the market have different molality. I believe Gatorade is isotonic while Powerade is hypertonic.
The molality relative to your plasma molality will help increase or decrease the rate of absorption down the concentration gradients. This will depend on how much you have sweated and how much of the losses were water vs electrolytes.
The molality of the drink is calculated by using the molecular weight of the various molecules in the drink (eg dextrose, sodium, chloride, potassium, etc). The correct balance for optimal hydration can be achieved by mixing almost any of these, but the commercial drinks generally have sugars in them because that fuel is useful for people doing things like running marathons or ironmans or any endurance sports. Coincidentally people like sweet things so they also buy sport drinks for games of baseball or golf where the extra glucose isn’t needed to fuel anaerobic respiration.
Here’s an interesting article on ‘rehydration’.
Water is the best aid for rehydration. Electrolytes are overrated if you’re just thirsty, but if you feel you need them, try fruits and vegetables, as the article suggest.
Another article:
> We do lose electrolytes through sweat, but even when you exercise continuously for many hours, you will simply correct any losses via your normal appetite and hunger mechanisms. (You’ve already experienced this if you’ve ever had a hankering for a salty snack.) One small study of cyclists and triathletes found that it didn’t really matter whether they drank plain water, a sports drink or a milk-based beverage after an hour of hard exercise. As long as they drank some liquids along with a meal, they restored their fluid levels just fine.
There’s no use in paying for ‘electrolytes’ you already get in your regular food for free.
Looking at the ingredients they all seem to do more harm than good.
Too much sugar for instance.
I prefer to make my own workout drink with potassium, magnesium and sodium.
If I really have to choose one beverage, I always prefer Brawndo.
It’s got what plants crave.
I would only seek electrolytes if you are sweating. I would only seek carbs if the exercise is high intensity.
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https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26373645/
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https://www.mysportscience.com/post/2015/05/27/recommendations-for-carb-intake-during-exercise
Coconut Water is a healthy and natural source of electrolytes like sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
Otherwise just a high quality water for hydration. If I’m sick I’ll use bone broth and sometimes an organic pedialyte.
Sports drinks are typically filled with synthetic coloring and processed sugars so check the labels if ur trying to eat super clean. Gl 💪🏽
Gatorade- originated because of football players in full gear in Florida were needing electrolyte replacement due to excessive fluid loss via sweat (think Florida gators…Gatorade). Now, people drink it like they are professional athletes, including children who play 15 minute soccer periods (and this just increases cavities to be honest) as well in adults, because we don’t need the sugar. Unless you are in need of electrolyte replacement (severely ill, professional athlete), water is the best for hydration. But, that marketing sure does get to us all, doesn’t it?
ELI5: Salts and stuff quench your thirst, water doesn’t really do as much as people think.
If you are not an athlete, instead of a sugar bomb, consider lemon water with a pinch of salt (regular, light salt, whatever works for you) and a little bit of sugar/honey/nothing. Cheaper, natural, doesn’t destroy your teeth in the process.
From what I think I remember from Chemistry class:
Water and salt is lost when you sweat. Your body loves sugar and readily opens pathways for it to pass through cell walls, etc. Salt and water follow the sugar through those pathways.
Gatorade tastes great, but most of the time, regular old water will do the trick just fine 🤙
sodium + potassium + water = rehydration, in general. Other electrolytes too but that’s the majority important part. That’s why drinking a bunch of plain water doesn’t cure hangover, while pedialyte usually helps way more.
Seems like none of the drinks on the market provide enough of the right nutrients.
I’d just stick to water and good diet
For electrolyte replacement, stick with things like Lyteshow and others that you just add drops to your water to replace what you sweat out and otherwise lose. If you need some simple carbs for endurance sports, there’s endurance powders that I think are far better than crappy Gatorade.
When we dehydrated, wether from diarrhea, vomiting, excess sweating or using diuretics like alcohol. Our blood becomes thick and places pressure on our heart, Kidneys and other internal organs. Think oil slug. Blood is filled will salts like potassium,sodium, and calcium (among others) and sugars that feed to our skeleton, cardiac, and smooth muscles. If we rehydrate with straight distilled water we are diluting our blood from the nutrients causing delirium, muscle spasms, cramps and possibly death. With electrolytes in drinks, it returns fluids with a balance of salts and sugars.
Drinks like Gatorade are basically soda with a little bit of sodium. Rehydrating requires a significant amount of sodium and potassium and little carbohydrates (which is pretty much all that’s in Gatorade). I’m no scientist, but I know that sports drinks are typically garbage. I’d recommend something like liquidIV or LMNT which or electrolyte mixes. https://drinklmnt.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAh_GNBhAHEiwAjOh3ZKEzu2RMgwbq7EC-jRMjDOsicS_q0Lu-fn2t-kNyN1xAf3yr7NJM_BoCA2wQAvD_BwE
Hi! So, there are 2 main nutrients in proper hydration. Sodium and potassium. Normally, people have too much sodium and not near enough potassium. Water IS important, too.
Sports drinks are just that, designed for sports activities. Those drinks are for energy and sweat replacement. Athletes should still properly hydrate outside of activity.
If you are looking for hydration, I’d recommend a box of raisins, a banana, a smoothie, or fruit juice (apple or orange). Then, keep drinking your water. You do want some sodium, but it’s quite easy to come by. Basically, don’t eat out and don’t eat processed foods. Adding salt in cooking and to your plate are okay.
Distance Runner here and I’ve tried everything but for some reason most , if not all give me acid reflux. One day while reading some material on Ultra Running I came across a drink called Chia Fresca, it’s actually called something else in Spanish. It’s a mixture of Water, Chia Seeds, Lemon and Agave or Honey. You can make it at home too!
You lose the equivalent of about 3G sodium (from sodium chloride (salt)) and 500mg potassium (from potassium chloride), and much smaller amounts of calcium and magnesium per 3 L of sweat. Sugar also helps you absorb these electrolytes. However, you only need about 1.5 g of sodium, 3 L water, and 5 g potassium per day under normal circumstances. So an electrolyte drink with 250-500g sodium and 40-80mg potassium per liter and sugar (or dates/juice) to taste is a fine balance. You can get the rest from food. Here’s how they compare:
Gatorade:~450 mg sodium~125 mg potassium~250 cal~1L
Powerade:~400 mg sodium~100 mg potassium~225 cal~1L
Pedialyte:~1000 mg sodium~ 800 mg potassium~100 cal~1L
Based on this, Powerade, or watered-down Powerade is probably the best of the three, but Gatorade or watered-down Gatorade is perfectly fine.
So you can also cheaply make an electrolyte drink in a blender with water; juice, sugar, brown sugar, agave, maple syrup, or dates; salt; and a potassium supplement.
However, most people eat so much salt anyway it might be better to just eat a few kiwi fruits (215 mg potassium per fruit) before or after exercise and drink straight up water.
Coconut water is the best natural rehydration other than water because instead of having added sugars and flavorings like Gatorade/Powerade, coconut water is all natural. It has all the electrolytes of potassium, sodium, and magnesium.
To answer your question, sodium is the electrolyte that is lost in sweat, so coconut water naturally replaces the sodium.
I often experience fatigue due to occasional bouts of diarrhea from metformin consumption. I just recently started taking Nuun, a fizzy drink you get from a tablet you drop into about 20-30 oz of water. I take the version with no caffeine and the last amount of sugar. It does make me feel better, though I don’t know if it providing all I need.
Pedialyte is the best imo just because of lowest sugar content. Sure poweraid and Gatorade have a sugar free option but it’s replaced with artificial sweeteners.
Pedialyte has much less sweetener since it’s made for toddlers but has about the same benefits and a bit more (I know they sell a version with prebiotics)