With temperatures outside warming, right now is the best training time to help ease your body into outdoor exercise. As the weather warms up and you move your activities back outdoors, the St. Elizabeth Sports Medicine team wants to remind you to stay well hydrated this summer.
From sports drinks to water to pickle juice
“Our main emphasis needs to be on nice cold water. But the longer the event, there is some evidence that the sports drinks can have some benefit, not just from the electrolytes but the carbohydrates and the flavoring in a sports drink … A lot of programs offer both,” said Dr. Michael Miller from St. Elizabeth Sports Medicine.
Dr. Miller says athletic trainers are the best people to ask about how much hydration is needed and whether water will suffice or athletes should rely on other sports drinks. Endurance events that are greater than a few hours tend to lend to a need to replenish nutrients as well as hydration.
Some athletes have heard that pickle juice is a good hydration source, as well. Dr. Miller says “there’s more anecdotal evidence for pickle juice than we have science … If it does help with muscle cramping, it’s probably through some other mechanism, and I’m not sure we’ve been able to demonstrate that through science.”
Dr. Miller doesn’t believe drinking pickle juice is harmful, although if athletes begin to drink only pickle juice, they will miss out on other nutrients their bodies need.
“If an athlete is still following really good fluid and nutritional guidelines, good established fluid nutritional guidelines and they want to add a little pickle juice, I don’t think that’s harmful. My concern would be if they abandoned more healthy fluid guidelines and substitute pickle juice, then I think we are going to get in trouble,” said Dr. Miller.
Dr. Miller summed up his segment with Local 12’s Liz Bonis this way: Drink water as much as possible before, during and after athletic events and don’t depend on any one beverage to replenish what the body needs.
Click here to watch the full segment.
