Beer and rehydration

[Avonthediver]

I found this article interesting after our beer and diving discussion:

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Forget water or Gatorade. The drink of choice to rehydrate after a workout is beer.

Researchers at Granada University in Spain found beer can help retain liquid better than water alone.

The results were published in the British newspaper The Telegraph.

The study involved a group of students. They were asked to work out until their body temperature reached 104 degrees.

Researchers then gave beer to half of the students and water to the other half.

They said the bubbles in the beer help quench thirst while the carbohydrates help make up for burned calories.

A cardiologist with the Real Madrid football team told the paper he has long recommended beer to professional sportsmen after exhausting activities.

Man this sounds just like my uncle talking. he also must have read this cause now he thinks that water is bad for you and beer is the perfect hydrant!!

And in concluson: recipe for Disaster :missing:

 

[bleeb]

Gatorade has too much sugar to be healthy for most people

Gatorade also has way too much salt to be healthy for most people, at least the regular stuff. Most electrolyte drinks may be quite appropriate for people working hard and sweating heavily for at least 1.5-2 hours, but generally not otherwise.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

My grocery store research, on Key Largo 10 years ago, does not compare well with my just completed web research. Original Gatorade's label info;

Serving size .......................... 8 US fluid ounces (240 ml)
Energy ................................. 50 kcal (210 kJ)
Carbohydrates ....................... 14
Sugars .................................. 14
Dietary fiber ............................ 0
Fat ......................................... 0
Protein .................................... 0
Potassium .............................. 30 mg (1%)
Sodium ................................ 110 mg (5%)

Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults.

Now from a daily health perspective, obviously drinking a lot of Gatorade every day is going to be a considerable intake of sugar and sodium. Sodium-(salt)-saline solution is what Hyper Dick called for; not sugar and carbs. Something lower in sugar and carbs but still high in sodium would be better.

In conjunction with diving's more than normal depletion of body, short term increase of sodium to "lubricate" Nitrogen off gassing seems a reasonable leap of faith. Even for a full time dive pro, perhaps a slightly higher sodium intake on dive days and sodium free on non diving days.

 

[kanonfodr]

I think that if you are working hard enough to cause detectable electrolyte loss while diving, you are diving too hard.

I am, however, a proponent of post-diving beer as the alcohol thins the blood, allowing faster off-gassing of those pesky last nitrogen bubbles

Peace,
Greg

 

[SolarStorm]

I volunteer to study the effects of beer after diving. (I assume that since this is a study, free beer is involved?)

 

[aquaregia]

"I don't drink water. Fish **** in it." - WC Fields

 

[Pauly854]

I'm not sure how this could be true, since I can drink a beer, and piss a six pack...but sounds too good not to try!

 

[WetBoy101]

If you drink water during your surface interval, squeeze some fresh lemon or lime into it. This will really let (help) the water be absorbed into your body instead of getting absorbed by your wetsuit half way into your second dive!!

 

[wtcreaux]

I'm not sure how this could be true, since I can drink a beer, and piss a six pack...but sounds too good not to try!

Alcohol inhibits ADH (anti-diuretic hormone) which results in the above......

 

[Thalassamania]

This reminds me of a rather poor Chinese study in the mid 1980s that Glen Egstrom (tongue in cheek) brought to my attention. It showed that hard alcohol consumption post dive lowered DCS risks. I'll stick with Chuck Shilling's advice: no alcohol within 24 hours of a dive.