How are sport drinks supposed to hydrate you more than drinking water?
In: Biology
You know how you retain more water if you eat very salty food for a day or two? Water follows salt. Let me explain:
Suppose you’ve been running a marathon in hot weather and lost a lot of sweat (water & salt). When you drink a sports drink (water & salt), and it gets to your kidneys, the kidneys try to retain that salt you just lost— and water follows the salt. They’ll try to retain plain water too, but the effect is greater if salt is present, because there’s the water transport plus the salt-and-water-follows transport.
(*using salt as shorthand for electrolytes sodium, potassium, chloride. Don’t @ me about botching renal physiology, I too am 5.)
Latest Answers