What Does a Sports Drink Do?

by Shereen Jegtvig

When I was a kid (way back in the 1970s), my friends and I drank Gatorade.  It was supposed to be good for hydrating the body, which sounded like it must be very important after a long bike ride.  And, it tasted kind of good.  As I recall, Gatorade was really the only sports drink available back then (and in only one flavor).  It was a simpler time, I guess.

Today, there’s a few more sports drinks available (and lots of energy drinks – I’ll save that discussion for my next post).  You can still buy Gatorade (in several flavors), but you’re probably going to see Powerade displayed quite prominently in the cooler section of grocery and convenience stores.  So what’s so special about sports drinks?  For most of us, most of the time, nothing. 

Sports drinks are basically lots of water with some sugar and a few electrolytes like sodium and potassium added in.  When you exercise, do physical labor or even sweat heavily from a hot day in the sun, the sports drink replaces the water your body has lost.  The electrolytes make it a little easier for your body to absorb the water and the sugar replaces the carbohydrates your body burned up.

But most of the time we just aren’t that physically active, so plain water is good enough for rehydration.  Of course, if you’re a serious athlete or do extensive amounts of physical labor, then a sports drink might be a good idea – at least they have less sugar than a typical soda.

If you work hard and you want to use a sports drink to replace the water your body loses, choose one that doesn’t contain artificial colorings.  You need the water, not the creepy neon colors.  Look to our FoodEssentials tool for help.

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