Do all isotonic drinks contain Carbohydrate?

diddyfunk

Hi guys

Do all isotonic drinks contain Carbohydrate?

I use Gatorade and is specifies that it contains carbohydrate on the bottle but do things like sainsburys own brand electrolyte drink or SIS electrolyte contain carbohydrate?

Many Thanks

Anonymous

Nuun does not
http://www.nuun.com

and Hi5 Zero does not
http://www.highfive.co.uk/zero.php

Not sure about any others.

Anonymous

Or buy supermarket brand High Juice.

Some of them contain the same amount of carbs in one serving as a whole bottle of a branded isotonic drink or similar, but is far cheaper and 50% of the thing is usually entirely fruit juice (concentrated, you dilute it with water).

Chuck it in a bottle or camelbak with water, and a little bit of salt, and you've got the same stuff you find in expensive branded bottles. Or at least the key things. And they come in big bottles that will last you ages to make up your drink.

ride_whenever

SiS nocarb doesn't...


Also, you could make an isotonic 'drink' that is completely not safe for human consumption.

Anonymous

ride_whenever wrote:

SiS nocarb doesn't...


Also, you could make an isotonic 'drink' that is completely not safe for human consumption.

You mean petrol and salt?

ollie_lucas1985

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Nuun does not
http://www.nuun.com

and Hi5 Zero does not
http://www.highfive.co.uk/zero.php

Not sure about any others.

Indeed true, however I found Hi5 skank.. anyone else?

Never heard of nuun tho.. interesting!

tri-sexual

dont get confused by labelling
carbohydrates may sound a good thing to have in a sports drink (not always) but there are different types.
simple carbs is simply sugar, will give u a very fast release of energy often followed by a low (think hyper kids after drinking tango, other high sugar fizzy drinks available)
complex carbs are a slower release enegy source (rice, pasta)

Anonymous

Nuun is great, easy on the mouth, easy on the stomach. Also helps hangovers!
Apparently, kids don't get hyper on sugary drinks, people just think they do. Get a roomfull of kids, tell some people they've had sugary drinks, when in fact they haven't, and parents will swear blind that they're being hyperactive. Kind of a placebo by proxy. Strange, but apparently true.

Anonymous

For slow release, eat something like pasta before going out, or even a big pasta meal the night before. Or eat a pasta snack at a stop off point. Use a drink with simple carbs for regular topping up, although it's the water and salt in it that's probably more important, salt especially to avoid cramps and replace lost salts. Whatever you do thought, there's no need to buy expensive branded sports drinks or food.

ollie51

Yes all 'isotonic' drinks contain carbohydrate as to be an 'isotinic it must contain 6-8% carbohydrate, this is the highest percentage of carbohydrate in a drink of which it can still provide hydration. Those that have no or less than 6% are know as hypotonic and tend to hydrate you and then you also get hypertonic drinks with have more than 8% carbohydrate and these are really your energy drinks so relentless, red bull etc.

blablablacksheep

Gatorade +poweraid are the best high street ones you going to be able to use/buy

the better ones are all non high street and require you to mix and make your own shakes in bottle, ie maxifuel ect.

i find gatorade is better than poweraid for recovery and doesnt unsettle the bowels is you know what i mean

Anonymous

deadkenny, what the hell are you talking about, that's not related to "do isotonic drinks have carbs" at all.

ollie51, No, not all isotonic drinks have carbs.

Anonymous

1. pasta was mentioned for slow release complex carbs, so I just added to that discussion as an alternative to isotonic drinks. I believe eating stuff like this is better than an isotonic drink to do the same job. i.e. you don't have to just drink.

2. original post was asking about supermarket drinks and specifically is concentrating on carbs. I've provided alternatives you can get from the supermarket, i.e. make your own. In my opinion you don't need full on isotonic drinks at all, just mix up your own drink that contains the carbs with a bit of salt. Most branded isotonic drinks are in my opinion marketing hype. Or at least way overpriced and not entirely necessary for the average rider unless you really are at olympic level. You can get the essential nutrition and hydration in other, and cheaper ways.

ride_whenever

yeehaamcgee wrote:

ride_whenever wrote:

SiS nocarb doesn't...


Also, you could make an isotonic 'drink' that is completely not safe for human consumption.

You mean petrol and salt?

I was thinking more water and something really unpleasant, like methyl mercury...

Anonymous

deadkenny wrote:

1. pasta was mentioned for slow release complex carbs, so I just added to that discussion as an alternative to isotonic drinks. I believe eating stuff like this is better than an isotonic drink to do the same job. i.e. you don't have to just drink.

How does eating pasta, relate to isotonic drinks, in any way, shape or form. One is a form of liquid that is quickly absorbed, and helps balance the salts in your body, the other is a food, full of carbohydrates.

Anonymous

I refer you again to the central question of the original post, namely do isotonic drinks contain carbs, and also to tri-sexual's post which introduced the discussion on types of carbs and specifically complex carbs and mentioned the ability to get these from food sources.

Some isotonic drinks contain complex carbs as well as simple. The point I was making was simply that isotonic drinks are not necessarily the ideal way to get complex carbs.

There are plenty of articles on the Internet that discuss the pros and cons of isotonic drinks, and the point about complex vs simple carbs is a very important point. Many stress the same as I have, which is that it's better to get the complex from food than from a drink during a ride. More go on to even question the benefit of isotonic drinks at all if you've eaten correctly in the first place, other than as a form of hydration and short energy boost top up. As I mentioned, the bigger benefit is in replacement of things lost, which mainly is salt.

It's all relevant to the discussion when dealing with isotonic drinks and carbs. Filter what you aren't interested in accordingly

Anonymous

deadkenny wrote:

I refer you again to the central question of the original post, namely do isotonic drinks contain carbs, and also to tri-sexual's post which introduced the discussion on types of carbs and specifically complex carbs and mentioned the ability to get these from food sources.

Go back and read the first post, he's asking if all isotonics contain carbs. Simple as.

Anonymous

You know how the internet forums work though. If you ask a question you'll get less than you want, or more than you want, but rarely exactly what you want.

Judge for yourself whether mine and tri-sexual's post (who you haven't jumped on) are relevant or not. You yourself have gone on about hyperactivity in kids. What has that got to do with whether isotonic drinks have carbs?

Think we're done here anyway. At least I am, even if I may be a ranting fool.

ollie51

ollie51, No, not all iso-tonic drinks have carbs.

Yes they do, to be an isotonic drink it must contain similar levels of carbohydrate and salts in the body hence 'tonic' and they are intended for those levels to remain constant hence 'iso'.

If they have no or little carbohydrate they are known as hypo-tonic drink, hypo meaning less than.

If a product claims to be isotonic and has less than 6% carbohydrate, it isn't isotonic and somebody at training standards will not be a happy bunny.

Anonymous

No, hypotonic drinks have less salts than commonly found in the body's cells.
Ive given you two examples, Nuun contains impossibly low amounts of carbs.

Anonymous

Oh, hang on though. Even though Nuun serves the same purpose as isotonic drinks (contains a similar amount of minerals to the body's cells to facilitate easy intake), it doesn't appear to specifically say "isotonic" anywhere.
So yes, I'd misunderstood the technical requirements to be Isotonic. I was led to believe the salt concentration was the critical factor.
Apologies.

ollie51

It's confusing as if you were to google isotonic it says both electrolyte and carbohydrate levels are relevant and for example nuun (great stuff) contains the right amount of electrolytes but less carbohydrate which makes you wonder how you categorise it but really the carbohydrate levels is the deciding factor, for example powerade has so little electrolytes in it and it's still an 'isotonic' drink.

Anonymous

Gotcha. Sorry for my confusion. :oops: