Water: An Overlooked Essential Nutrient.
Introduction
Water is an essential part of our life. In fact our bodies are made of 60% of water! By drinking water or some water based drinks we revitalize our bodies. We all know that water is natural and therefore good for us. This handout will answer the question – a part from water, are other beverage products good for us or not? To answer this we will compare labels, proof through studies and marketing information available under the following eight categories.
Daily recommendations
When you work out regularly in a calm climate, you loose approximately 2-4 pounds of water/fluid due to perspiration. This means one can loose 2% of his/her body weight in 1 hour. If one does not replenish the fluid loss you get fatigued and your performance is diminished. Ordinary factors like environmental conditions make us loose a lot of water too. One should take a few cups in the morning, mid morning, lunch, afternoon and at dinner. This should make a minimum of eight to nine cups in a day.
Nutrient content
Gatorade and powerade basically contains the same contents like sodium, potassium, carbohydrates calories, vitamins and sugars. On the other hand water contains minerals as well as electrolytes just like the other two but water may also contain calcium, sulphates, zinc and nitrates. The only advantage sport drinks have over water is that they are flavored. Otherwise water is richer nutritional wise.
Varieties/sources
Unlike the sports drinks which only source is that shelf in the shop , water has many sources which are surface water, sub- surface or ground water, desalination or frozen water, fruits and vegetables among others. So basically it is hard to go anywhere in the world and lack water than is with sports drinks.
Cost
Water is free anywhere in the world unless you want to buy some bottled water. On the other hand waterade and Gatorade are relatively expensive and cannot be gotten for free.
Advantages of consumption
Researchers have found that dehydration brings stress or strain and diminishes our performance both mentally and physically. For people who have regular exercise the amount of water and electrolytes lost through sweating can be easily replaced by taking plain water. This automatically prevents dehydration and other related ailments like kidney stones. When you want to loose wait water is essential since if you drink a lot of it you eat less. Still it has fewer calories compared to sports drinks.
Safety levels
We should always make sure that every thing that goes into our body is safe. Unlike waterade and Gatorade, we can personally make sure that the water we drink is safe by treating it ourselves with the many readily available means. On the other hand we place our trust on the producers of sports drinks and the big chain of distribution before it reaches us to make sure that the drink is safe.
Disadvantages of consumption
Sports drinks generally contribute to the breaking down of the tooth enamel. They also contain a lot of sugar and other contents that have a lot of calories if you look at the nutrition label. Research has shown that unless you have an extensive work out like football or any other sport, drinking waterade or Gatorade can in the real sense make you gain weight due to the sugar and calories level since you may intake more than you lost through a regular workout. Water on the other hand has absolutely no disadvantage in consuming but only advantages.
Conclusion
If one exercises for roughly one hour, he/she can easily rehydrate or replenish his/her muscles completely by taking plenty of water. What I can say is, if your body primarily consists of high percentages of water why should you replace the lost water with a foreign fluid?
