They confirm that the beverages for athletes with an adequate composition can achieve higher physical performance of the athlete than the water.

– according to the prestigious magazine of the British Nutrition Foundation, if the athlete does not swallow a proper amount of sodium and fluid volume, rehydration after exercise isn’t fastcomplete and maintained at the time

-drinks with higher percentage of glucose can keep the normohidratación one hour more than the rest

Madrid, February 2010- drinking water is better not to drink anything, but the intake of a drink for athletes with an appropriate composition of carbohydrates and electrolytesYou can achieve better performance of the athlete. This concludes the review ‘ Hydration in sport and exercise: water, sports drinks and other drinks ’ made by scientists from the Faculty of Sport Science, exercise and health of the Loughborough University (United Kingdom), and recently published in the journal of the British Nutrition Foundation Nutrition Bulletin.

The main objectives of the consumption of beverages for athletes are accelerating the rehydration, stimulate the absorption of fluid, provide carbohydrates to muscles in action and to promote recovery after exercise. According to the Loughborough University, the water is not the best choice in this regard, and in particular, during resistance exercises, while on the other hand, there is evidence that carbohydrates and added electrolyte drinks improve performance to a greater extent than water.

With this conclusion, the work of Loughborough University also confirms other previous research on the rehydration of the athlete after the exercise, and in particular on the importance of both ingest an adequate volume of fluid (greater than the net deficit of the volume of sweating) as an adequate amount of sodium. According to this study, without both, rehydration won’t quick, complete, or maintained at the time, while there is no clear evidence regarding other electrolytes.

The review points out the need to include sodium in liquids swallowed after two hours of exercise, and the importance that sportsmen and women are equally well hydrated before exercise, as reflected in the consensus of the International Olympic Committee’s 2004 document. Also in Spain, the Spanish Federation of sports medicine recently prepared a paper where they discussed and consensus shape the specific needs of carbohydrates of the sportsmen, the physiological benefits associated with the sodium and the importance of its replenishment, etc.

Scientific work published by the prestigious magazine of the British Nutrition Foundation also stresses the importance of the good taste of the drink, which many athletes lose significant amounts of sweat and need consume large amounts of fluids to replace them, which get more easily if the taste of the drink is nice.

Loughborough University has carried out another investigation that also concluded hypertonic glucose and sodium beverages to achieve greater efficiency to restore water balance of the athlete. To this end, the participants in the test ingested drinks with different percentages of different osmolalidades and glucose (0%, 2% and 10%). During the test of beverages containing 10% glucose, it was found that individuals retained more swallowed liquid and were able to maintain a normohidratación for an hour more.

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