Healthy summer sports drinks

This Week In The HSI Healthier Talk Community

How do you beat the heat?

That question is on the minds of many of us here in the U.S. as we try to stay cool during this exceptionally warm July. In the e-Alert “Stay Out of the Kitchen” (7/18/05: see below), I detailed some of the dangers of heat stroke while cautioning against the use of sports drinks that typically contain sugar and artificial flavorings. And aside from these contents, a UK study I told you about last March found that some sports drinks may actually cause more damage to tooth enamel than cola drinks.

In a thread titled “Sports drink recommendation” that appears in the General Health Topics forum of the HSI Healthier Talk community, a member named WillowS poses this question: “My children are going to soccer camp next week and I don’t know if water alone will be enough considering the heat. Do you have any recommendations for brands or recipes for sports drinks? Gatorade and such are just not acceptable to me – too much sugar and junk.”

WillowS receives an excellent recommendation from a member named Leppert who opens her response with an emphatic instruction: “Absolutely NO commercial sports drinks!

“Let me give you the recipe my son uses. He is Army and does very long runs. He takes his distilled water and puts Celtic Sea Salt into the water (you may have to start the salt very low and work them up) at about 1/4 tsp. per qt., a squeeze of fresh lime and a few drops of raw natural honey. He has been using and evolving his system for about 6 years and found that the drop of honey helps with energy and the lime is refreshing and the salt replenishes his electrolytes.”

A member named Texasgal is intrigued with this recipe, but wonders how much a “drop” of honey is, and asks for clarification on the salt measure. Leppert’s reply: “Maximum of 1/4 tsp. sea salt per quart of water used. Drops is a few drops from the end of a teaspoon, depends on your taste. He uses distilled water but any good filtered water will do. The squeeze of fresh lime gives it a thirst quenching feeling so one doesn’t glug the water down.”

That actually sounds very refreshing, whether you’re taking long Army runs or just sitting out on the back porch.

When WillowS posts a thank-you to Leppert, she notes: “I have to figure out how to get the honey to melt.”

This time a member named Mary offers a tip, along with some additional suggestions: “In order to get the honey to melt, add a little bit of hot water first, and then the honey, shake or stir till it dissolves and then add the rest of the water and ice. Try not to load him up on too much ice, ice drinks will cause stomach cramps, and in my opinion just makes you hotter. Try to keep the drinks on the cold side, but not icy cold. I used to make this peppermint water that my kids loved instead of giving them koolaid and such. If your kids don’t like the lime or lemon, try a bit of peppermint or orange slices.”

Other topics being discussed this week in the Healthier Talk community forums include:

Stomach Problems: Grapefruit seed extract
Vitamin Questions: B-12 cream for eczema
Auto-Immune diseases: Lyme disease
General Health Topics: Cleansing herb
Vision: Lasik eye surgery
Cancer: Vitamin D for lung cancer