Well, this topic is very controversial. We, humans, follow the herd mentality. We do things that we are unsure about without checking facts just because everyone else is doing. I call it herd mentality or peer pressure. There are lots of environmental factors like peer pressure, advertisements, internet, endorsements from famous celebrities which have a huge effect on our decision-making process.

This article is not to influence your decision, but it is to educate you on who really requires sports drinks and who can do without them. Also, I will give you a couple of tips on how you can make a homemade sports drink with all the electrolytes which are beneficial for your body minus the harmful chemicals and sugar which are present in store-bought sports drinks. I am not only worried about the sugar content in the sports drink but also concerned about food coloring and preservatives which are harmful to our body.

It is highly important that we read the nutrition label and list of ingredients present in sports drinks or vitamin water. I have read the labels of most of the major brands and based on the nutrition label of these products the main ingredient is water, sugar, sodium, and potassium. These products are very high in sugar. That’s where the energy is derived from, but the problem is that people do not realize that these products are for athletes who do vigorous exercise and train for a couple of hours in the heat. They sweat a lot and lose all the electrolytes, so they need to replenish them. For the rest of us, plain water is just fine.

Most of the people who are consuming these products are not training to be athletes. They are the ones who are hardly active or they workout in the air-conditioned gym. They barely sweat so they do not need these products. An immediate side effect of this kind of product is the sugar rush and then crash. Long term side effects are diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure. We just get influenced by advertisements or celebrity endorsements and consume the products without using our intellect to discern the side effects of ingredients present in sports drinks and vitamin water. Also, they do not list in an advertisement that these products contain food dyes and preservatives. Chemicals found in food dyes and preservatives are also very harmful to us.

Thus, in conclusion, sports drinks or vitamin water is not for a person or for kids who do not exercise or train for a couple of hours a day 5-6 times a week in heat where they would sweat a lot. For this kind of person, water or organic pure natural coconut water is the best source of hydration and fresh fruits as well as vegetables are the best source of electrolytes.

As a matter of fact, even for someone who is training to be a professional athlete, I would recommend consuming homemade sports drinks that are free from dyes and do not have excess sugar. They can make this kind of drink easily from fruits like lemons, oranges, watermelon, lime, grapefruit, passion fruit, coconut water by adding honey or maple syrup and Himalayan pink salt or pinch of regular salt.

I look forward to your views on this article. Please feel free to share your views on this topic in the comments section below.