Before sports drinks became so popular, people drank water when they exercised or got sweaty. Today, the sales of sports drinks exceed $1.5 billion a year with Gatorade being the most popular. Sports drinks are flavored beverages that contain carbohydrates (usually sugar) and minerals such as sodium and potassium. Many people believe that sports drinks are the best alternative to replace lost fluids and electrolytes when exercising, but that’s simply not true. “Many sports drinks contain as much as two-thirds the sugar of sodas. They also typically contain high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), artificial flavors and food coloring, none of which contribute to optimal health.”
Sugar after exercising has a negative affect on your body. It affects your insulin sensitivity and your human growth hormone production. Despite being referred to as “Energy drinks,” the sugar that they contain does just the opposite. After a quick burst of energy, your energy level drops as your pancreas and other glands try to balance out the toxic stimulation to your blood sugar. School of Public Health professor, Mary Story, says, “We’re seeing schools, parents, and community members making the decision to swap soda for sports drinks thinking they’re improving children’s consumption of sugary-sweetened beverages, but really, they’re replacing one sugary drink for another.”
Along with other sugars, high fructose corn sugar is known to increase your risk of almost every chronic disease including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis. What makes HFCS so unhealthy is that is raises your blood sugar levels and causes sugar to attach too many of your body’s proteins, causing permanent damage to them. In 2004, a researcher from The University of New Mexico said that “Gatorade is no better than water because it isn’t retained any better than water, so while it may make an athlete feel better initially, it isn’t any better for long-term hydration.”
Researchers say that the increased consumption of sports drinks is adding to the obesity epidemic. They are not any better than drinking soda. Professor Mary Story, from University of Mexico’s School of Public Health, says “A 20-ounce sports drink may have fewer calories than a soda, but it has more sugar and more sodium-and no nutritional value.” Story says 83 percent of the high schools in the U.S. sell sports drinks and 55 percent of middle schools do too. It’s become a popular everyday drink that Story says is part of why more and more kids are overweight. In addition to these health factors, the color additives and citric acid in these drinks are very bad for your teeth. Instead of sports drinks, athletes along with everyone else, should stick to water and healthy alternative drinks to stay hydrated.
Work’s Cited
http://heritageihc.com/blog/sports-drinks/
http://sph.umn.edu/sph-research-finds-sports-drinks-just-as-unhealthy-as-soda/
Sports Drinks, Overhyped, Overrated and Unhealthy for our kids.
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/08/10/research-says-sports-drinks-just-as-bad-as-soda/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/28/brain-sleep-_n_5863736.html
The ingredients of energy drinks always seems to frighten me and they do not exactly have a good reputation. Although, I do have to admit that I have opted for an energy drink once or twice when I needed to pull an all-nighter. For me the energy drinks do not have any real affect, I feel the same as I did before I had the drink. Safety wise, it is questionable whether the drinks are healthy or not, the article I listed below gives detail on how Red Bull was banned in the French government because it was linked to the death of a teen. http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/energy-drink.htm
I’m really surprised to know how unhealthy sports drinks are for you. During high school, I would drink Gatorade all the time while exercising and after. I definitely thought it was doing me good, I’m glad I know now that I shouldn’t be consuming it as much.
As bad as sports drinks may be, at least athletes who they’re marketed to and who drink them work out, burning off the sugar other ingredients that come in them. I often see people who aren’t even in the habit of working out or staying active drink them, allowing the substances like sugar and high fructose corn syrup to just settle as they don’t work it off. I’ve never been a fan of sports drinks and I figure I’m not missing much.
Very interesting topic, I grew up drinking two- three sports drinks per game I played. Scary to think what it could actually be doing to my body when I really thought it was helping me