A healthier sport drink?Does it ever cross your mind that there may be a healthier alternative to guzzling gallons of brightly colored, sugary sug·ar·y adj. sug·ar·i·er, sug·ar·i·est 1. Characterized by or containing sugar: sugary foods. 2. Tasting or looking like sugar. 3. sport drinks? Canadian researchers must have had that question in mind in a recent study comparing the exercise effects of fructose fructose (frŭk`tōs), levulose (lĕv`yəlōs'), or fruit sugar, simple sugar found in honey and in the fruit and other parts of plants. (the sugar found in fruit juice) and glucose (the sugar your body uses for fuel). Seventeen trained cyclists participated in three timed cycling trials to exhaustion at 75% VO2max, each after a sugarless placebo, a glucose drink, or a fructose drink. Results of the test showed that fructose and glucose performed equally well, both out-performing the placebo. However, fructose bettered glucose in maintaining more stable levels of blood sugar. The authors postulated that stable blood sugar profiles could improve ratings of perceived exertion and the perception of exhaustion, and therefore enhance performance. Whether or not that's true, a glass of orange juice has sport drinks beaten for nutrients, without any food colorings or other additives. A one-cup serving of orange juice has 496 milligrams of potassium, 112 calories, and 26 grams of carbohydrate plus lots of vitamin C vitamin C or ascorbic acid Water-soluble organic compound important in animal metabolism. Most animals produce it in their bodies, but humans, other primates, and guinea pigs need it in the diet to prevent scurvy. , folic acid folic acid: see coenzyme; vitamin. folic acid or folate Organic compound essential to animal growth and health and needed by bacteria as a growth factor. , and vitamin A vitamin A also called retinol Fat-soluble alcohol, most abundant in fatty fish and especially in fish-liver oils. It is not found in plants, but many vegetables and fruits contain beta-carotene (see . Dilute your orange juice with an equal amount water and add a pinch of salt and you'll have your electrolytes covered in a homemade sport beverage that provides roughly the same number of calories and grams of carbohydrate as commercially prepared sport drinks. Try it out on a training run in case fructose doesn't agree with your stomach. (Journal of Sports Medicine sports medicine, branch of medicine concerned with physical fitness and with the treatment and prevention of injuries and other disorders related to sports. Knee, leg, back, and shoulder injuries; stiffness and pain in joints; tendinitis; "tennis elbow"; and and Physical Fitness, 2000, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 343-349) |
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