GatorPowerAde, RedJavaThrottleEnergy …energy and sports drinks are heavily marketed to adults and children, and are a huge part of the beverage industry. They promise improved athletic performance, concentration, energy, and stamina — just about everything short of the ability to fly. Energy and sports drinks aren’t the same. Sports drinks were developed to replace the water and electrolytes lost by training athletes. Gatorade’s original formula was developed by researchers at the University of Florida, who collected sweat from exercising Gator students for analysis. Modern sports drinks do contain important electrolytes like potassium and sodium, often combined with sugars or other sweeteners or flavorings. Many also contain an assortment of vitamins and minerals. For athletes who spend long hours training in hot environments, some supplementation with these electrolytes may make sense, but for almost all ordinary child and adolescent athletes under ordinary circumstances, the only thing that needs to be replaced is water. The extra sugars and vitamins won’t do anyone any good. Coaches should concentrate on encouraging the best habits for young athletes: drinking water before,celine handbags, during, and after exercise. Energy drinks are different. In addition to electrolytes (especially sodium), they often contain caffeine or caffeine-like compounds, along with a witch’s brew of amino acids and herbal products like inositol, ginsing, taurine, and carnitine. Vitamins are often thrown into the mix as well. The calorie count of energy drinks is even higher than that of sports drinks, and none of these additives is likely to genuinely improve performance — in fact, it’s far more likely that children, especially,celine luggage tote, will experience toxic side effects rather than any kind of athletic “boost” from these concoctions. Sports and energy drinks aren’,celine bag price;t at all necessary. Encourage your young athlete to drink water to replace lost sweat. For vitamins, eat a balanced diet. Drinking your vitamins during sports doesn’t make them any more powerful. There’s a lot of marketing hype out there, but the disappointing truth is that weird chemical additives are not going to help you or your child fly or accomplish much of anything else. For more information, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a clinical report on sports and energy drinks in children and adolescents ,celine bags. The full text in PDF format is available from a link on the right of the page. - Roy Benaroch, MD