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Hello. With a bank-holiday weekend looming, Britain is gearing up for what passes for a heatwave up in the north Atlantic. Temperatures might hit 30°C on Sunday. That’s good for barbecues, beers and catching some rays. But anyone hoping to use the long weekend for a long run or a big outing on the bike will likely find the warmth a bit oppressive. Perhaps an electrolyte drink—the subject of this week’s column—might help?
Gatorade, probably the best-known brand, is named for the Florida Gators, the University of Florida’s American-football team, who have to train in 30C+ heat for most of the season. In 1965 scientists at the University of Florida mixed a drink of water, sugar and salt to see if it would help the athletes recover. It certainly seemed to. The crucial ingredient turned out to be a bit of lemon juice, to address concerns that the drink tasted strikingly like a different, and much less palatable, sort of yellow liquid.
As our column explains,
the drinks have some solid science behind them. Electrolytes are vital to living cells. Too much sweating can indeed deplete them, which is why elite runners and cyclists get through so many drinks during the course of a race. But elite athletes are a small market. These days, the drinks are heavily marketed at ordinary people who exercise much less.
That is where things get a bit murkier. If you want the details, you’ll have to read the piece. But when you’re thinking about any supplement, it’s worth bearing in mind that the human body is a very clever machine that has been engineered by evolution to be extremely good at keeping itself in good nick, even in trying circumstances. That is
not to say all supplements are useless—they
are not. But as rules of thumb go, it is a pretty good one.
Are you a fan of electrolytes? Email us here:
wellinformed@economist.com.
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