Hydration drinks and powders

[David M]

I was wondering if people often take hydration drinks or powders on walks. Examples are Gatorade, Poweraid and Staminade. There also seems to be debate about how effective such drinks are vs water.

[kanangra]

Yes I use them. Makes a nice change from water. My favourite is Raro. available in NZ and the odd Coles store in Sydney.

K.

[DaveNoble]

Yes Raro is great. Very easy to buy in NZ (all the supermarkets have racks of it), but hard to get here. My local woolworths has "Vitafresh" which is similar, but does not have as many varieties. "Fizz" or fruit saline is very refreshing on hot days.

Dave

[Strider]

Raro isn't a hydration drink. Quite the opposite really as it is loaded with sugar.

[madmacca]

Thanks to the hype of the sports marketing industry, and perhaps the desire of people to emaulate (at least in their wilder fanstasies) elite athletes, the need for electrolyte replacement is generally overblown.

Most people get enough salts from their diets (thank you processed food industry and chefs adding more salt for taste) and don't need to consume more, even to cope with the demands of regular exercise. The range of circumstances where electrolytes is needed or even beneficial is quite small - basically only for prolonged and vigorous exercise (2 hours plus in most conditions, although perhaps 60 mins plus in really warm conditions).

However, bushwalking can potentially fit those circumstances, depending on the conditions. Walking all day and long vertical climbs in warm conditions can see you losing a lot of salts, particularly as a pack stops sweat evaporation from a substantial part of your surface area (even more so when you add in a sun hat and gaiters). The identical walk in a cooler season could see very little loss of salts.

Loss of salts also depends on what your body is acclimatised to, and if you sweat regularly, your body will get more efficent at retaining salts. Fitness matters. But even if you regularly exercise in the early mornings or in an (air conditioned) gym, when you start bushwalking outside during the day, you may lose substantially more salts than someone who follows the same exercise regime but goes for a run at lunchtime.

Personally, I take along some staminade powder on most multi-day walks, but use it only if I am drinking (as against just cooking with) more than 2 litres of water a day. I generally mix up a fairly weak solution at lunchtime. If I am drinking more than 4 litres per day day, then I will probably mix up another batch later in the day.

If you cross a water source while walking on a warm day, but don't need to drink any more, you can help slow loss of salts by pouring some over yourself or dunking your shirt. This is also a good way to make use of water sources you don't trust (eg. farm dams) without risking gastro.

[Lizzy]

I like a bit of power aid or staminate powder to mix up on a multi day walk. Tastes ok and figure it can't hurt

[LandSailor]

I really like the Nuun electrolytes tablets. Contains no sugar. Add a tablet to your water and you've got a refreshing fizzy drink. Not sure who sells it. I buy them on Ebay.

[DaveNoble]

Raro isn't a hydration drink. Quite the opposite really as it is loaded with sugar.

I mix the Raro powder with water. The water provides the hydration and the Raro powder provides some sugar for energy - which is quite useful to get up hills. And it tastes good too! Great

Dave

[davidf]

I've recently been using hydralyte (sp?). Its a little more expensive than the gatorades, I mix it generally at most half strength. It comes in user friendly, ie you won't have 500g of gatorade goo, satches, and is really made for disentry dehydration. Not as tasty as vitafresh but damn handy

[LandSailor]

The water provides the hydration and the Raro powder provides some sugar for energy - which is quite useful to get up hills.

I think people can react to sugar differently. I seem to get an initial burst of energy but then feel even more tired shortly afterwards. For me its just easier to avoid sugar all together.

[Strider]

I really like the Nuun electrolytes tablets. Contains no sugar. Add a tablet to your water and you've got a refreshing fizzy drink. Not sure who sells it. I buy them on Ebay.

Not sure about your neck of the woods but apparently the yoga studio around the corner from my place stocks it.

http://www.studionewtown.com.au/shop

[GPSGuided]

I would have thought hydration drinks aren't that relevant for the level of activity involved in bushwalking (for most in average or milder weather conditions). In my cycling, unless the ride pushes into the 2-3 hours zone, plain water has been good. Otherwise, Staminade is my choice for it contains magnesium supplement. Works against cramps. Many of the others are essentially sugar water. For a real glucose hit, Coke or one of those gels work best.

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

Absolutely.

I drink minimum 3 litres a day walking in Tas - 2 litres water in a bladder, and 1 litre powerade in a bottle.

I used to spoon out the powder each day, but now they make individual 37g sachets. Meant to make 600ml, but I make 1L otherwise it's too strong.

While it may not be required when bushwalking depending on the length of the day, it does make for a refreshing change - and potentially prevents hyponatraemia - which caused a death not too long ago (on the Penguin Cradle trail) from memory.

But don't consume too much. I think the general recommendation is 3L water to 1L sports drink, to prevent salt saturation.

Wouldn't hike multi-day without it.

[MickyB]

2 litres water in a bladder, and 1 litre powerade in a bottle.

I used to spoon out the powder each day

While it may not be required when bushwalking depending on the length of the day, it does make for a refreshing change

Nearly exactly what I do. I didn't know that they now they make individual 37g sachets. Will have to look into that.

[stry]

I recall, but can't refer to, some research some years ago which suggested that none of the then available "sports drinks" were able to be absorbed by the human physiology any quicker than plain water.

Raro and similar offerings are just lolly water with a big hit of cane sugar based,over refined, empty carbs. Classic diabetes fodder. I like the taste also, but they have very little value.

As GPS pointed out, at least staminade contains some minerals. I shovelled a fair bit of staminade into my water during a February trip in Queensland, and did no apparent harm.

Hopefully some of the others also contain more than sugar and water.

If one wants a quickly available energy hit, there are many better ways to get it than lolly water

[bmak]

I use thorzt in sachets. It's sugar free and ends up costing $1 per liter

[Graham51]

When it's hot and I sweat a lot (and I sweat a LOT) I use Hydrolyte or Gastrolyte tablets. One or two a day really seem to help my overall wellbeing and cut down cramps that I suffer from.
For refreshment I like fruit saline. I don't know if it does any good besides that I enjoy fizzy drinks and this fits the bill for me.

[Giddy_up]

Hydrolyte for me as well, I only mix it half strength and it seems to help toward the end of the day.

[Jaala]

Me too, Hydralyte sports.

[icefest]

I usually just make sure that my dehydrated foods have plenty of potassium and NaCl in them. Usually I cook with little salk at home but when hiking that all gets thrown out of the window.
(all I need now is a supply of monopotassium glutamate, 100% MSG free)

[GPSGuided]

Don't forget to put in some Mg too.

[wayno]

health practitioner friend of mine recommends using baby formula for sports and recovery drinks, better value for money than the sports drink formulations.

[stry]

I forgot about Hydrolyte. I always carry a few sachets in case of gastric related dehydration. Never crossed my mind to use a little when in good health.

Good idea !!

[Gadgetgeek]

I've used Nuun, hydrolite and powerade as well as hairy lemon from time to time. I usually only add electrolytes when I'm sweating enough to have had a couple liters of water to drink, and have not eaten. I usually do any of them at half strength which isn't great for flavor, but that's not what I'm in for anyway. I have to avoid aspartame, as it tends to give me pretty nasty headaches/migrane type effects. I would actually prefer sugar options to sugar free, since there is some research suggesting that sugar substitutes may throw off the brain's own "calorie log". Whether its true or not, I feel better when I avoid sweeteners, and they do nothing to enrich my life.
Mainly I stick to foods for electrolytes, bananas, nuts, sunflower seeds etc.

[nq111]

I don't use them at all.

I am open to them - especially where good evidence exists (and there seems to be some). But haven't really had a need / seen an issue to correct to date.

Maybe I don't walk hard enough, or I stop too often to eat salty snacks already

[roysta]

I use Endura, much less sugar than Gatorade or Powerade.
I find it works well for me.
It's got magnesium in there, as does Staminade, my second choice.

[TerraMer]

Shotz (an Aussie company) and powdered coconut water are my favourites. They both work well but the coconut water is naturally healthier when used in higher daily quantities over a long period of time.

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

Latest edition of Wild has a medical doctor talking about his specialty in remote area medicine.

He always takes electrolyte powder on walks to rehydrate (Gatorade I think?).

If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me!

[zac150]

I really like the Nuun electrolytes tablets. Contains no sugar. Add a tablet to your water and you've got a refreshing fizzy drink. Not sure who sells it. I buy them on Ebay.

You can get nuun from wiggle but check any cycling store and you will find a variation all carb / sugar free - nuun, zero, SIS, gu and others are all the same.

I take nuun as well as I like the flavours.

[LandSailor]

Not sure about your neck of the woods but apparently the yoga studio around the corner from my place stocks it.
http://www.studionewtown.com.au/shop

You can get nuun from wiggle but check any cycling store and you will find a variation all carb / sugar free - nuun, zero, SIS, gu and others are all the same.
I take nuun as well as I like the flavours.

Actually Ive just discovered iherb.com is an excellent US supplier of Nuun tablets. Their prices are about 40% cheaper than what you pay here in Australia. Ive used them for other stuff but only just realised they sell Nuun as well.
They charge approx $8 for delivery of a box of items and it normally arrives within a week of ordering (5 days for my last order). Only catch is its a courier delivery so they wont do PO boxes and you need to have someone present to accept delivery.