As i wondered around the gym this morning i couldnt help but notice the amount of people that now habitually drink a sports drink whilst working out. Sports drinks are a great way to rehydrate as they replace the electrolytes lost in sweat so your body can take up water more efficiently. If they have added carbohydrate too they can also imporve performance if your exercising for over an hour as they provide fuel to your working muscles. However, this habitual drinking can be damaging to your health. Despite all the added unnecessaries you're consuming when you drink a commercial sports drink (sweetners, artificial colours....) you could also be causing deleterious effects to your bone calcium status....how..?
Well.....When your body takes up too much of the electrolyte sodium (a key player in these drinks) it has to get rid of it and when your body excretes sodium it also excretes calcium. The body leeches calcium from your bones to bind to sodium for excretion which can weaken bones and puts you at risk of osteoporosis. However, this isnt to say you should rush out and start popping some calcium supplements to counteract this effect as too much calcium circulating in the body causes hypercalcemia which interferres with brain and nere function, muscle contraction AND the release of hormones.
Its a fine balance to get your electrolyte balance correct. My advice would be to ditch the commercial sports drinks and opt for super hydrating coconut water to replace those minerals lost through sweat.
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