Exercise Associated Hyponatremic Encephalopathy, Gatorade and the ACSM

[Jeff Enge]

Originally Posted by Christopher Morris

"Taste-compatible" - that's a good word. I think a true electrolyte replacement would taste like sweat.

Blegh. The BCAAs by themselves don't taste all that great either. So the Gatorade powder makes that a little better. Either way, I definitely noticed more gas (energy, not farts) going into the latter half of my workouts (squats mostly, after snatch and C&J first half) when I added some nutrients.

[Chris Mason]

At the risk of sounding self aggrandizing, I have been telling the hydration maniacs for years that you don't need to drink gallons per day and we are not generally dehydrated...

[Daniel Dean]

Originally Posted by Jeff Enge

Gatorade powder

This is key, since the powder is sweetened with 100% dextrose, whereas your standard off-the-shelf gatorade is HFCS.

Of course, you could also just use plain dextrose powder and a pinch of salt. Corn syrup (not HFCS, regular Karo-type corn syrup) is tasty too and 100% glucose.

[Jeff Enge]

Originally Posted by Daniel Dean

This is key, since the powder is sweetened with 100% dextrose, whereas your standard off-the-shelf gatorade is HFCS.

Huh! Learn something everyday!

[Christopher Morris]

Originally Posted by Chris Mason

At the risk of sounding self aggrandizing, I have been telling the hydration maniacs for years that you don't need to drink gallons per day and we are not generally dehydrated...

This reminds me of the thread (wfs) about morning dehydration where you learnt me a thing or two. Thanks, Chris!

[Lynne Pitts]

To "sweeten the pot" CrossFit has 500 copies of Noakes' book available to give to interested parties; reply in this thread if you would like one. We'll grab your email from the admin side, so you don't need to post your email publicly, and our team will contact you for the rest of your information.
Requests so far - will keep this updated, so hit me if I miss you.

Joshua J Grenell
Chris Cooper
Christopher Morris
Dakota Base
Andy Shirley
Russel K Olofson
Teena Escobar
Amy Hollingsworth
Jason Donaldson
Alden Hingle
Christopher E Bloom
Jesse Phillips
Barry Stockbrugger
Ryan Kingsbury
Darrel White
Kirez Reynolds
Darby Darrow
MIchael Wuest
Jason David
Kevin Keast
Joey Dussel
Adam Manery
Robert D Taylor Jr
Mark Lamoree
Greg Whitekettle
Rob McBee
Josh Murphy
William J Mallon
Greg Light
Steven Nedorolik
Steven Wingo
Brian Watts
Shane Scott
Preston Sprimont
Dave Rubin
Chris Russell
Sean Rockett
Graham Leck
Sean McCue
Kenny Markwardt

[Coach]

Dakota,

You're missing the point. You'll probably find it near impossible to make meaningful inputs without investigating the topic. Don't take my word for any of this, but don't shoot from the hip blindfolded either. You might want to start with the British Journal of Sport's Medicine's indictment of Gatorade and the ACSM - if you don't have the time to really read Noakes book. It's not an easy read for many and will take more than a few days to intelligently work through, but once you have, once you've studied the history and the literature published by Gatorade/ACSM, you'll see the deadly consequences of big-soda's incursion into health/fitness/sports science. It's a travesty. Gatorade and the ACSM have blood on their hands. Lot's of it. That's as simple as it is true.

Here's the Reader's Digest version...The ACSM an organization that I'd expect to be chartered with protecting athletes and advancing sports science, allowed Gatorade, a big-soda subsidiary to corrupt thermoregulatory science and subsequently hydration science with the intent to sell more crappy lemonade. It worked well enough but the problem is that the corrupt science and the recommendations therein killed people. This rises to Lawn Darts, exploding Pintos, Big Tobacco product liability (forget the performance degradation, the cover-up, and wasted money for the time being) that media, and the fitness community missed.

[Jeff Enge]

I'm curious as to what you are doing to fight Big Soda in addition to posting this on the CrossFit message board?

[Darryl Shaw]

If anyone's interested in reading the papers under discussion they can be found in the features section here under the heading "The Truth About Sports Drinks". The full text of these papers is behind a pay-wall but I found some of them posted online.

Anyway, my personal view is that sports drinks are safe and effective when used appropriately. So the problem isn't sports drinks per se, it's the exaggerated claims used in marketing them to the general public that's created the problem, leading many to believe they need them to perform at their best. The truth it's unlikely you'll benefit from using sports drinks unless you're a serious endurance athlete or have difficulty in consuming adequate CHO from food alone. And there is little if any benefit in prehydrating or "drinking ahead of your thirst" if you aren't a serious endurance athlete, and even then it's debatable whether the practice is of any real benefit.

The Truth About Sports Drinks.
Cohen D., BMJ 2012;345:e4737

Forty years of sports performance research and little insight gained.
Carl Heneghan et al. BMJ 2012;345:e4797

To drink or not to drink to drink recommendations: the evidence.
Yannis Pitsiladis, Lukas Beis. BMJ 2012;345:e4868

Commentary: role of hydration in health and exercise.
TD Noakes. BMJ 2012;344:e4171

*All links wfs*

[Christopher Morris]

Lynne -
I'll bite. I'm interested in Dr. Noakes' book after reading a couple of his things online. I looked him up since Coach referenced him in this thread.

I don't know if I'm the key demographic you're looking for to disseminate this knowledge. I'm a garage CrossFitter, and have almost zero interaction at an affiliate, so I don't rub shoulders with other Crossfitters on a regular basis. Still, I comment online. And I would appreciate very much a free read. Thanks!