Sports Drinks

Sports Drinks for young swimmers

All swimmers should bring a drink to poolside, but which drink is best, especially for young swimmers? A recent article in Swimming Times considered the subject, and I thought you’d be interested in the advice of the performance nutritionist.

Why bring a drink to poolside?

Performance will drop dramatically well before you feel thirsty. There is plenty of evidence showing that dehydration causes loss of performance so having a drink is essential and we encourage all swimmers to bring a drink with them to the poolside. Small sips should be taken throughout the session. Make sure their name is on the bottle so they can find it at the end of the session.

Sports Drinks – do they work?

Advertising and marketing claims suggest sports drinks are the best thing to have, and much data is produced to show their benefits. Be careful, though, because the science relates to youths and adults performing at an elite level. The benefits for these athletes can be worthwhile, but only if the right drinks are consumed at the right time. Typically this would be after a fast training set or a race, when the carbohydrates and electrolytes in the drink are best absorbed. In addition, consuming carbs and electrolytes throughout a long session will mean the athlete can work harder for longer. The energy in the sports drink spares the athlete from using the energy stored in their muscles and therefore allows them to exercise for longer. Different sports drinks contain different amounts of carbs and electrolytes and it takes some thought to find the right one for the athlete.

So, it sounds like we should all be taking sports drinks, right? Well, the advice is: No, especially not for young and age group swimmers (4-14 years old). So, what are the cons?

Tooth Decay. Many sports drinks contain sugar or are acidic so to protect the teeth, drink some water after the sports drink. The advice is to not have sports drinks throughout the day as the amount of sugar in contact with the teeth will lead to decay. Especially don’t have a sugary or acidic drink before bed.
Extra ingredients such as caffeine, which can impact quality of sleep.
Blood sugar level. Sports drinks (e.g. Lucozade, Powerade, Gatorade – depending on the recipe) contain between two and nine teaspoons of sugar per bottle. This can cause spikes in blood sugar levels.
Cost. Commercial sports drinks are expensive, costing over £1 per bottle, per session, 4-8 sessions per week. Clearly this adds up to quite an extra cost.
Banned substances. For the serious swimmer it should be noted that sports drinks are a supplement and could contain banned substances. There are approved batch tested supplements, but even this does not guarantee they will pass a drugs test.

DIY Drinks

Considering all the points, it’s better to drink water or make your own drink, especially for training sessions.

You may choose to use commercial sports drinks for competition days only, but take care with this as the swimmer may not be used to the particular drink and it could lead to an upset tummy on the day.

The best advice is:

Eat good food more than 2 hours before training or competition.
Drink water or dilute squash throughout the day. Use sugar free squash to keep the sugar intake down.
Eat a healthy snack prior to training.
Take a bottle of water or dilute squash and sip it throughout the training session or competition.
Eat the right foods within 20-30 minutes after training.
Sports drinks are only beneficial if the training session is longer than one hour, and the session is particularly hard work.
DIY Sports Drink in Swimming Times: mix water (150ml), orange juice (250ml) and a small pinch of salt – full of energy, fluid, sodium, potassium, vitamin C and one your fruit portions. Carb content will vary with different fruit juices, but blend in different pieces of fresh fruit for more energy, vitamins and flavour. This is an excellent post-training or post-race drink and a great addition to your normal water or squash drink taken throughout the day
The Nutrition presentation on www.prescotswimmingclub.org offers all the fundamental advice.

Dr Kevin Dunk