Washington: According to a new study, consumption of sports drinks and other supplements by athletes is of little help as electrolyte supplements are mostly ineffective. According to CNN Health, 266 endurance athletes taking part in the RacingThePlanet event -- that involves 155 miles of running for seven days in the most hostile deserts around the world -- were evaluated by Stanford University researchers.
The lead author of the study, published in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, Dr Grant Lipman has stated that the findings from this specific case would also hold consistent for other sports.
"Electrolyte supplements are promoted as preventing nausea and cramping caused by low salt levels, but this is a false paradigm," Lipman commented. He also warned that "they've never been shown to prevent illness or even improve performance, and if diluted with too much water, can be dangerous".
The research laid its focus on two conditions related to skewed sodium levels in the body. The first is hypernatremia, in which the sodium levels become excessive due to dehydration. The second is exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH), which as the terminology suggests, is induced when the sodium levels are too low.
CNN Health explained that EAH can cause impaired mental status, pulmonary oedema, seizures and in the worst cases, death. The study indicated that although hot temperature increased the likelihood of such conditions, sodium supplementation did not mitigate exercise-induced hyponatremia.
Lipman, who is an emergency medicine professor and director at Stanford Wilderness Medicine, told CNN Health that "in the past, athletes were told to make sure they're taking electrolyte supplements and drinking as much water as they can". Also "it was generally thought that that would prevent things like muscle cramping, electrolyte imbalances and dizziness." However, there is currently "no evidence" to show this is true.
