Do
you want to be bigger, faster, or stronger? How about improve in a sport or
just improve in overall physique. If yes, that’s great; America is known for
having an issue with obesity so the more adolescents participating in regular
exercise the better. However, it is apparent that physical activity is not the
only way high school students try to improve. Many athletes out there try to
improve through the use of sports supplements such as Gatorade/PowerAde, and whey
or casein protein. Sadly, these athletes may be victims to the superior
advertising made by large companies. This is because sports supplements are
ultimately unnecessary to the average teenage athlete, due to the fact that
they only affect athletic performance in extreme cases.
Gatorade and PowerAde are two of the most
popular sports drink out there; athletes of both genders drink them due to
their claims of increased endurance, better hydration, and energy. However, do
said drinks really improve performance, or are these claims built by marketing agents
simply to improve sales? Gatorade has two main components- electrolytes and
carbohydrates. Electrolytes are basically just salts, and Carbohydrates are
basically just sugars. The idea is that when your body goes through a very
intense workout or through intense heat, vital electrolytes are lost through
sweat. Allegedly, when you drink Gatorade you’re replenishing these lost
electrolytes, while also replenishing carbohydrates you’re burning off.
However, according to Professor Tim Noakes of Cape Town University in the
documentary sports science, the amount of electrolytes taken does not affect
athletic ability, due to the average American’s high level of sodium intake.
Gatorade’s claims of carbohydrates fueling an athlete, proved to show a clear
affect, but only after about 2-3 hours of intense exercise. In fact, the
manufactures of sports drinks almost exclusively do studies of the effect of
their product on highly trained athletes who can perform long periods of
intense exercise. It is within these long periods of intense exercise where the
company’s claims become valid; unfortunately, most of the users of Gatorade or
PowerAde do not exercise for multiple hours at a time at a very intense level.
So what happens to these excess electrolytes and carbohydrates, or salts and
sugars, when we drink sports drinks? According to livestrong.com the extra
sugar and calories can lead to an increased risk in obesity, heart disease, or
cavities and the excess electrolytes can lead to an increase risk of
hyperkalemia. Of course in order to experience such negative effects one would
have to excessively drink sports drinks with almost no exercise, however the
existence of these risks show the unhealthiness of regular intake without the 2
to 3 hour intense period of exercise.
Whey
or Casein protein are also very popular supplements, especially with teenage
boys, according to aboutkidshealth.ca 40%
of all young athletes take at least one of these dietary supplements. Who can
blame them after reading claims made by manufactures of increased strength,
endurance, and overall performance? Although these claims sound very
attractive, they may be a little too good to be true. According to Dr. Tamie
Stevenson even the most intense workouts only require the athlete to eat about
1.5g of protein for every kilogram they weigh. This number turns out to not be
very high for most teenage athletes. In fact a healthy diet consisting of fish,
chicken, or beef can provide more than enough protein to our bodies in order to
generate more muscle mass. Why would we choose to pay money for expensive
dietary supplements when we already get enough protein from the foods we eat
daily? Not only is the extra protein in such supplements a waste but they can
also damage the kidney, as it strains itself to filter an excess of protein out
of the bloodstream. Based on the facts above, protein supplements seem to only
have a positive effect for profession body builders, who work out multiple
times a day, and require an extreme amount of protein to maintain their massive
bodies.
In
conclusion, sports supplements can have some positive effects, although these
effects are minuscule and only become apparent in extreme conditions.
Therefore, the use of said drinks ultimately becomes a waste of money, and in
extreme cases, a risk to one’s health. Despite this, millions of American
teenagers fall victim to superior advertising and claims made by these goliath
companies. However, we can all live healthier lives through doing away with
these supplements, drinking water, and eating actual food. This change in
lifestyle will help us all live... a whey better life.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.