Total Fitness Network : Fuel, Diet & Weight Loss : Sports Drinks: Do I need 'em?

By Therese Iknoian

Pouring teal blue or fluorescent pink fluids into your mouth seems a little weird. But when summer, sun and sweat arrive, it's time to take another look at sports drinks.

Sports drinks, with names that imply you'll be able to leap tall buildings after one sip, multiply on store shelves during the warm season when more people head outside for exercise and end up pretty thirsty. Line up those Power Bursts, All Sports and Breakthroughs, and you'll end up with more than two dozen different colors and concoctions.

The problem is, most companies try to convince you of two things: One, their fluorescent liquid works miracles even if you're just out for a stroll with the dog. And, two, more carbohydrates and electrolytes are always better. Let's take a look at what's behind the claims.

Research has proved that the worst enemy to exercise performance is dehydration. During intense exercise, or if someone sweats profusely just being in the heat, the loss of body fluids and the electrolytes in them (mostly sodium and potassium) can reach one to three quarts an hour. If you don't replace the fluid, your body can't cool itself, nerves and their pathways don't function, your heartrate rises rapidly, and you can move quickly into heat exhaustion or, potentially fatal, heat stroke.

Are sports drinks a miracle fountain of energy even for slow strolls with the dog? No. But if you're one of those people who doesn't drink water because it's boring, go for the blue (or pink or orange) sports liquid to keep the stream of necessary fluid going into your body.

Now you're hydrated and happy. But you're still tired. It's quitting time, and you promised yourself you'd get in that two- mile run. You reach for the blue liquid with the label that implies endless energy with a few sips.

Well, unless you're dragging because you're already dehydrated or you didn't eat right that day, don't expect a miraculous burst of super power. Sports drinks can't compensate for a lack of sleep or take the place of a poor, high-fat diet. Still, you won't hurt yourself. You'll only swallow anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred extra calories.

But do you want or need all those calories and electrolytes? Most experts agree that unless you're working out moderately intensely for more than an hour, that water is just fine. Still, if you won't drink water, go for the sports drink. Some fluid is better than no fluid.