Mexico City.- Serum to recover?… if you’re sick, yes.
Using this drink to recover the liquids lost through perspiration when training or competing is not appropriate because, according to experts, they are not a viable option.
Rehydration is essential for proper sports performance, but lately the intake of over-the-counter serums has become fashionable for that purpose.
When doing physical activity, especially at high intensity, the body suffers not only from the loss of water, but also of minerals, which are essential for metabolic processes as well as for the body to recover. For this reason, water and isotonic drinks have been the most common drinks for rehydration.
But today there is a tendency to use serums to quench thirst and compensate for salts and minerals that the body loses through sweating. Furthermore, many people have adopted them as a drink for regular, everyday use.
The flavors, between natural and artificial, and the colors have made them a highly demanded product among people who exercise.
SPECIAL USE
The common consumption of serums is not recommended, because they are designed to attack dehydration due to illness, with vomiting and diarrhea, and not due to the loss of fluids due to sweating due to physical exertion, warns the nutritionist, Rebeca Camacho.
“Many serums or electrolytes have become fashionable (among athletes), but you have to check that they are not oral serums for recovery when you have vomiting or diarrhea, because dehydration is different there and more electrolytes are required.”
“That is why it is better to look for drinks prepared for athletes, whatever the brand, but that the label says that it is made specifically for them,” explains the specialist attached to the Sports Medicine area of the General Directorate of Sports of the UNAM. .
For Camacho, drinking serums as water during the day is not an option due to the formulas with which they are made and their concentrations of sodium and other minerals, in addition to glucose.
“It is not convenient to take them like this because they are for something else. If you are not exercising, you do not need to be taking that extra sodium or glucose that they provide.
“Many foods have sodium naturally, which covers the requirements for this mineral, which are not related to physical exertion and you do not need to take electrolytes throughout the day. Serums are generally for dehydrated children or people with diarrhea or vomit.”
TAKE NOTE
A rehydration drink should contain between 150 and 200 milligrams of sodium and also enough glucose, around 6 percent concentration, because at that percentage it is more useful for the athlete, both for rapid absorption and for rehydration.
When the sensation of thirst occurs, it is because the person is already dehydrated by 2 percent of their body weight; For example, someone who weighs 70 kilos has already lost 1.4 kg in water. That percentage can be a lot in terms of athletic physical performance.
A LOT OF GLUCOSE
The nutritionist even warns that the consumption of these products, which are available to everyone because they are sold anywhere, can be counterproductive.
“People who do not exercise and take these serums, which have about 6 teaspoons of glucose per 500 milliliters, are consuming a lot of sugar, since the maximum recommendation for a woman and man who does not exercise is 8 to 9 teaspoons a day. day, respectively, according to the WHO,” he points out.
