Exercise Drinks – More Harm Than Good?

It always amazes me some of the things that are allowed to be on the shelves of “nutrition” or “health food” stores.

Recently, I have been running across people touting the benefits of pre-workout products such as NO-Xplode and Hemo Rage Black, just to name a few. They are designed to be used as fuel for the workout giving the person energy and stamina to workout harder.

Products like this are popular among bodybuilders, and other younger exercise junkies, but are they beneficial, and more importantly healthy?

Let’s take a look deeper into these products, or do we even have to….?

If we just take one quick look at the ingredients section we find such ingredients as artificial flavors, sucralose, aspartame, FD&C red 40, FD&C blue 2, caffeine, etc..

HOLY SMOKES!!

Game Over!

Talk about a major red flag. Just pick out aspartame. It’s a potent neurotoxin that some sources say can actually lead to brain cells that burst.

Aspartame has ties to many daily, nagging, and common symptoms such as headaches, low energy, sleep problems, and PMS in women. It’s also linked to degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Hmmm, sounds like something to steer clear of don’t you think?

I mean the goal of exercise is to stimulate the body to become healthier, fitter, and more energetic, but then we start putting products in our bodies that are known to cause health challenges. It’s ridiculous.

How about sucralose?

It has been shown to cause swelling of the liver and kidneys!

One study from the Duke University Medical Center has found that ingestion of the artificial sweetener sucralose will kill off 50% of beneficial microflora in the gut.

Splenda alters gut microflora and increases intestinal p-glycoprotein and cytochrome p-450 in male rats.

Abou-Donia MB, El-Masry EM, Abdel-Rahman AA, McLendon RE, Schiffman SS.

Department of Pharmacology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA. donia@duke.edu

Sucralose, which is commonly known under the commercial name Splenda, has previously come under fire for causing gastrointestinal problems, migraines, seizures, dizziness, blurred vision, allergic reactions, blood sugar increases and weight gain. Says James Turner, the chairman of the national consumer education group Citizens for Health, “The report makes it clear that the artificial sweetener Splenda and its key component sucralose pose a threat to the people who consume the product.” Other artificial sweeteners, particularly Nutrasweet (aspartame), have received similar criticism for adverse effects.

I could go on and on with this. We haven’t even talked about the artificial colors and their effects and I’m really not going to spend any time on them.

Here is the deal…

If a company is willing to put these kinds of ingredients in their products, you know for absolute sure they are cutting corners on all their other ingredients. The amino acids, the vitamins and minerals, the creatine, etc. will be of the utmost cheapest source they can find. You can bet your bottom dollar on it. They are going to try to squeeze out the maximum profit from their products.

The sad thing is that people are duped into thinking that these types of products are healthy. Everybody knows that Mountain Dew, Coca-Cola, and any other kind of pop are not good for the body, but you would probably be better off drinking one of these for your pre-workout drink. Just don’t opt for the diet versions.

Now I’m not saying to go and drink pop before a workout, but at the very least don’t waste your money on these sham products.

Here is the bottom line…

Fuel your body with the highest quality nutrients you can find. If you are going to be spending the time and putting out the effort to have a good workout, don’t handicap your body.

If you read a label and it has any of the ingredients listed above, don’t buy the product! And, if you have already purchased it, no matter how much it cost, dump it out! Your body will thank you for it. Then, begin to question the integrity of the company and what their motivation is. Look for a new company.

Respect yourself.

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2 comments… add one
  • Bryan Jun 18, 2013 @ 8:09

    “Everybody knows that Mountain Dew, Coca-Cola, and any other kind of pop are not good for the body, but you would probably be better off drinking one of these for your pre-workout drink.” Who wrote this article? A 6th grader? We need facts and data to back it up. This was a fluffy POS.

  • Dr. Larsen Jun 18, 2013 @ 8:18

    The articles intent was to point out what ingredients are in these types of drinks. There is plenty of data suggesting that aspartame and other artificial ingredients are not good for the body. Some I mentioned. Oddly enough, most people are not even aware that these ingredients are in these products.

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