The vast majority of Canadians don’t exercise hard enough to need sports drinks, according to an investigation by the public broadcaster’s program Marketplace. It found that the average workout does not deplete the body enough to require additional energy and electrolytes.
Sports drinks are extensively marketed in Canada. Many parents buy them for their children and adults use them after workouts. They buy more than $450 million worth of sports drinks every year. But sports physiologist Dr. Greg Wells says most of them would be better off just drinking water.
Sports drinks have high amounts of sugar and salt which are not good for most people.
Marketplace teamed up with Canadian Olympic athletes Clara Hughes and Simon Whitfield and tested the effects of the drinks on them. Wells concluded only two per cent of all Canadians exercise intensely enough to need sports drinks. He added 85 per cent of Canadians don’t get enough exercise at all.
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