Table of contents:
- Are isotonic drinks important when fasting?
- Isotonic drinks have a negative impact if consumed every day
Isotonic drink is often known as the drink of athletes. It's just that, entering the month of Ramadan, advertisements for isotonic drinks have begun to appear and attribute the function of this drink to helping someone while fasting every day.
Who really needs an isotonic drink? Is it safe to consume this drink every day while fasting?
Are isotonic drinks important when fasting?
Isotonic is one type sports drink with high carbohydrate, mineral and electrolyte content.
Minerals and electrolytes function to replace body fluids lost due to sweating. Meanwhile, carbohydrates function to ensure energy intake so that the body can continue to carry out strenuous physical activity. For example, to maintain athlete endurance while competing.
Sports that require endurance (endurance) such as triathlon has a risk of dehydration due to excessive sweat production.
Athletes who do this long duration match, can lose about half a liter to 3 liters of sweat in one hour. The study, published in the journal PubMed, says athletes can lose 6% of their body weight through sweating during a challenging match.
If it is not balanced with adequate fluid intake, the body will become dehydrated. In this condition, the isotonic drink is a solution.
This condition is certainly different in fasting people with normal activities (not doing strenuous exercise). You may just lack water, so you don't need to consume isotonic drinks every day at dawn or breaking your fast.
Francis Wang, a doctor at Harvard Medical School, said that when thirsty or dehydrated, plain water is the first choice.
To avoid dehydration during fasting, you can work around this with a balanced nutritional intake at dawn and breaking the fast. Such as meeting the needs of plain water, reducing salty foods, and consuming fruits and vegetables.
Isotonic drinks have a negative impact if consumed every day
Isotonic content is generally good for the body. This is provided that the sugar content in it is still within normal limits and does not contain preservatives.
The majority of packaged isotonic drinks contain high sugar, artificial sweeteners and preservatives. This makes consumption of isotonic drinks every day (during dawn and breaking) can be bad for health.
For example, a 600 ml bottle of a well-known Indonesian brand isotonic drink contains 150 calories which is equivalent to 10 teaspoons of granulated sugar. You can experience an increase in blood sugar which is of course dangerous, especially for diabetics.
In addition, the content of preservatives in isotonic drinks can cause several disturbances during fasting, such as sore and itchy throats. If consumed continuously, preservatives can cause various diseases in the body.
If you decide to consume isotonic drinks while fasting, try not to drink them too often and pay attention to the composition listed on the packaging.
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