{"id":8135,"date":"2023-10-24T21:25:45","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T19:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/of-alligators-and-electrolytes\/"},"modified":"2023-10-25T08:01:42","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T06:01:42","slug":"of-alligators-and-electrolytes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/of-alligators-and-electrolytes\/","title":{"rendered":"Of alli\u00adga\u00adtors and electrolytes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>It star\u00adted with a&nbsp;despe\u00adra\u00adte U.S. col\u00adlege foot\u00adball coach and his col\u00adle\u00adague, che\u00admis\u00adtry pro\u00adfes\u00adsor Robert Cade. In Flo\u00adri\u00adda\u2019s tro\u00adpi\u00adcal con\u00addi\u00adti\u00adons, the Flo\u00adri\u00adda Gators\u203a play\u00aders repea\u00adted\u00adly show\u00aded signs of fati\u00adgue and cram\u00adping, so spe\u00adcial atten\u00adti\u00adon was paid to ener\u00adgy &amp;&nbsp;hydra\u00adti\u00adon. Che\u00admist Cade mixed sugar and table salt into the play\u00ader\u2019s drink, brief\u00adly crea\u00adting \u00abGator-ade\u00bb \u2013 later the worl\u00add\u2019s first com\u00admer\u00adcial sports drink.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Today, 58 years later, sports nutri\u00adtion has out\u00adgrown its infan\u00adcy as a&nbsp;serious sci\u00adence. Know\u00adledge of ener\u00adgy sup\u00adp\u00adly and flu\u00adid or elec\u00adtro\u00adly\u00adte repla\u00adce\u00adment during exer\u00adcise has grown signi\u00adfi\u00adcant\u00adly. But bet\u00adween eupho\u00adnious mar\u00adke\u00adting and com\u00adpli\u00adca\u00adted sci\u00adence, it has beco\u00adme dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to iden\u00adti\u00adfy its effec\u00adti\u00adve needs. An attempt to get to the heart of the matter:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Carbs Carbs&nbsp;Carbs!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sport needs car\u00adbo\u00adhy\u00addra\u00adtes (CHO). A&nbsp;lot of sport needs more of it \u2013 espe\u00adci\u00adal\u00adly during exer\u00adcise. The tar\u00adget amounts are not neces\u00ads\u00ada\u00adri\u00adly to be achie\u00adved exclu\u00adsi\u00adve\u00adly by a&nbsp;drink, but the more inten\u00adse the exer\u00adti\u00adon, the more liquid the car\u00adbo\u00adhy\u00addra\u00adte sup\u00adp\u00adly \u2013 thus redu\u00adcing tole\u00adrance pro\u00adblems and acce\u00adle\u00adra\u00adting ener\u00adgy absorp\u00adti\u00adon. Here\u2019s how:<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Easy effort under 90 minu\u00adtes: Water or 30g of car\u00adbo\u00adhy\u00addra\u00adtes per hour (simp\u00adle sugar, syrup, sports drink pow\u00adder, maxi\u00admum 8% con\u00adcen\u00adtra\u00adti\u00adon = 80g\/\u200bL).<\/li>\n<li>Easy efforts 90\u200a\u2013\u200a180min: 60g CHO\/\u200bh (see&nbsp;above).<\/li>\n<li>Easy effort &gt;180min: 80\u200a\u2013\u200a120g CHO\/\u200bhour (glu\u00adco\u00adse: fruc\u00adto\u00adse mix\u00adtu\u00adre = 1:0.8 or star\u00adches and glucose\/\u200bfructose; max&nbsp;12%).<\/li>\n<li>Inten\u00adsi\u00adve effort (hard training\/\u200bcompetition) &gt;60\u2032: 80\u200a\u2013\u200a120g CHO\/\u200bhour (see&nbsp;above).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Elec\u00adtro\u00adlytes: Real\u00adly neces\u00adsa\u00adry and, if so, which&nbsp;ones?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gatora\u00adde, to once again invo\u00adke the mother of all sports drinks, had always boas\u00adted to work best becau\u00adse they would effi\u00adci\u00adent\u00adly replace sweat. Sweat, ever\u00adyo\u00adne knows that, is sal\u00adty. This makes it obvious that we lose elec\u00adtro\u00adlytes (all mine\u00adrals that car\u00adry an elec\u00adtri\u00adcal char\u00adge in their dis\u00adsol\u00adved form) when we&nbsp;sweat.<\/p>\n<p>For far too long, howe\u00adver, many elec\u00adtro\u00adlytes have been over\u00adra\u00adted. In a&nbsp;healt\u00adhy, balan\u00adced diet, the only thing we need is sodium in sports drinks (i.e. table salt, che\u00admi\u00adcal\u00adly: sodium chloride).<\/p>\n<p>Sodium has many, important roles in our bodies, but at near\u00adly 70g, we also have ple\u00adnty of it. For the ath\u00adle\u00adte, what mat\u00adters most is its role in intesti\u00adnal KH absorp\u00adti\u00adon and its osmo\u00adtic acti\u00advi\u00adty (flu\u00adid balance).<\/p>\n<p>In a&nbsp;recent work it was loo\u00adked, when we need effec\u00adtively abo\u00adve avera\u00adge sodium sup\u00adp\u00adly and thus, the fairy tale of the threa\u00adtening salt defi\u00adci\u00aden\u00adcy some\u00adwhat the tooth pul\u00adled. Whe\u00adther you need to con\u00adti\u00adnue to swal\u00adlow salt tablets in series or whe\u00adther the 500\u200a\u2013\u200a700 mg sodium per liter of a&nbsp;modern sports drink is suf\u00adfi\u00adci\u00adent should be explai\u00adned brief\u00adly&nbsp;here:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Effort dura\u00adti\u00adon &lt; 4&nbsp;hours:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nor\u00admal salt inta\u00adke is suf\u00adfi\u00adci\u00adent (no addi\u00adtio\u00adnal salt neces\u00adsa\u00adry due to abo\u00adve-avera\u00adge addi\u00adti\u00adon, salt tablets or similar)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Effort &gt; 4&nbsp;hours:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt; 70% sweat loss repla\u00adced (most training\/\u200bcompetition con\u00addi\u00adti\u00adons!); no addi\u00adtio\u00adnal sodium needed.<\/li>\n<li>&gt; 70% sweat loss repla\u00adced (ultra events, mul\u00adti-day for\u00admats); know\u00adledge of sodium con\u00adcen\u00adtra\u00adti\u00adon in sweat hel\u00adpful (labo\u00adra\u00adto\u00adry ana\u00adly\u00adsis). If this is &lt;1g\/\u200bL (pre\u00adsu\u00adma\u00adb\u00adly 80% of all ath\u00adle\u00adtes) no addi\u00adtio\u00adnal sodium is neces\u00adsa\u00adry, whoe\u00adver is on top of this should replace 30\u200a\u2013\u200a65% of the abso\u00adlu\u00adte sodium loss (cal\u00adcu\u00adla\u00adted from the avera\u00adge amount of sweat, the avera\u00adge Na con\u00adcen\u00adtra\u00adti\u00adon and the dura\u00adti\u00adon of exertion).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Long sweat sto\u00adry&nbsp;short:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With gene\u00adral\u00adly ade\u00adqua\u00adte ener\u00adgy and hydra\u00adti\u00adon levels and a&nbsp;good sports drink, extra sodium is rare\u00adly nee\u00added. Ath\u00adle\u00adtes who are in extre\u00adme for\u00admats and\/\u200bor extre\u00adme con\u00addi\u00adti\u00adons would do well to deter\u00admi\u00adne their sweat rate accu\u00adra\u00adte\u00adly or even to ana\u00adly\u00adze the sodium sweat con\u00adcen\u00adtra\u00adti\u00adon. Howe\u00adver, this cle\u00adar\u00adly con\u00adcerns a&nbsp;distinct minority.<\/p>\n<p><em>PS: Cramps are rare\u00adly a&nbsp;sign of elec\u00adtro\u00adly\u00adte defi\u00adci\u00aden\u00adci\u00ades! In this case, an insuf\u00adfi\u00adci\u00adent flu\u00adid balan\u00adce or sim\u00adply an unac\u00adcus\u00adto\u00admed load for the body is the cau\u00adse \u2013 an effec\u00adti\u00adve reme\u00addy is to drink pick\u00adle juice or to bite into a&nbsp;very hot chi\u00adli pep\u00adper \u2013 have&nbsp;fun!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b_\u200b<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Swea\u00adting in the Cham\u00adpi\u00adons League Final:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A recent exam\u00adp\u00adle from the Cham\u00adpi\u00adons League final of a&nbsp;Man\u00adches\u00adter City play\u00ader, for exam\u00adp\u00adle, shows that in the warm and humid cli\u00adma\u00adte of the Bos\u00adpho\u00adrus, a&nbsp;who\u00adle 1.2 liters are swea\u00adted in one hour and thus 780mg of sodium (that would be 650mg\/\u200bL).<\/p>\n<p>Sin\u00adce in a&nbsp;pro\u00adfes\u00adsio\u00adnal game with few inter\u00adrup\u00adti\u00adons the fluid\u00adloss is hard to com\u00adpen\u00adsa\u00adte, said play\u00ader does not need extra sodium and his nor\u00admal sports drink and pos\u00adsi\u00adbly solid food during the half-time break are sufficient.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It star\u00adted with a&nbsp;despe\u00adra\u00adte U.S. col\u00adlege foot\u00adball coach and his col\u00adle\u00adague, che\u00admis\u00adtry pro\u00adfes\u00adsor Robert Cade.\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science-en"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8135"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8137,"href":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8135\/revisions\/8137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danihofstetter.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}