WARNING! (Particularly for all Sportsmen, Sportswomen & young athletes)
This is not a healthy drink to consume on a regular basis.
However: For endurance athletes, marathon runners and people who exercise outdoors, who are in critical need of salt replacement, Powerade and similar products are useful.
The electrolytes (sodium and potassium) in the drink help to replace those lost in sweat. Sodium is the major salt lost in sweat, as well as being the most critical electrolyte for performance and health.
Electrolytes play a key role in electrical conductivity around your body, which is important for muscle contraction and the nerve signalling from the brain.
For those of us who are not endurance athletes and who do not exercise outdoors, drinks like Powerade are not necessary. They not only add excess calories to your diet in the form of sucrose (sugar is the 2nd listed ingredient) but also contain maltodextrin (form of MSG- 3rd ingredient on the label) & flavour (MSG-5th). The last ingredient in the Lemon Lime flavour is 102- Tartrazine- a coal tar dye & suspected carcinogen; linked to migraines & thyroid damage.
Unfortunately, all other flavours contain these coal tar dyes, (hence the bright colours!), plus 2 forms of MSG.
At least there is no high-fructose corn syrup in Australia & New Zealand.
For those who exercise at a moderate intensity for an hour or less, filtered water is probably the better choice.
Certain other beverages, such as orange juice, can be used as sports supplements. It can reduce muscle fatigue and may leadsto faster recovery and better results.
One medical study was done on orange juice and people engaged in exercise. The subjects were overweight women. The women exercised for three months. The group of women who drank orange juice every day had better blood test results.
Both groups improved the anaerobic threshold by 20%, but blood lactate concentration decreased 27% in the experimental group compared to the 17% control group, suggesting that experimental [orange juice] group has less muscle fatigue and better response to training.
