How to make 

an isotonic sports drink?

 
   
Hydrating during athletic workouts is essential but not
sufficient: your drinks must be isotonic
Hydration is crucial in any endurance sport, both at professional and amateur
level. Bad hydration inevitably leads to poor performance and can cause
tendinitis and other health problems. The endurance athlete must drink on a
regular basis before, during and after exercise. Drinking pure water is not
recommended. The endurance drink must be isotonic. Explanations, tips and
recipes to make an economic drink equivalent to commercial ones.

What does isotonic mean?

Sports drinks aim at keeping your body hydrated, replacing fluid and electrolytes (salts) lost
through sweat, and providing energy from carbohydrates. Do not drink pure water! Your drink
should be isotonic, i.e. of osmolarity as close as possible as that of the human body. In
Layman's terms, the density of the drink must be close to that of blood plasma in order to
facilitate its absorption by the blood. A drink too dense will require the body to secrete water to
absorb it (dilution effect). The effect will be opposite to the one desired and can even lead to
dehydration! A drink too sparse or simply plain water may paradoxically lead to the same
situation.

Ingredients for preparing an isotonic sports drink

To prepare an isotonic drink, you need water, tea or fruit juice (for flavour), sugar (sucrose or
fructose) and, for long duration efforts, maltodextrin (where to buy maltodextrins?). Make sure
you follow the right proportions.

What is maltodextrin?

Maltodextrin is a carbohydrate derived from corn, an association of several molecules of

glucose and maltose. It is obtained by partial hydrolysis of corn starch (sometimes wheat).
Hydrolysis, i.e. decomposition by water, produces molecules of smaller size. The hydrolysis of
sucrose, for example, gives glucose and fructose. Depending on the degree of hydrolysis
(dextrose equivalent), it will result in pure glucose (dextrose), syrups, maltose or maltodextrins.

Maltodextrins do not taste sweet and are digested more rapidly than starch. Unlike most fast
sugars, fructose in particular, they are well tolerated by the body.

The degradation of glucose is a slow process, hence the interest to use it in combination with
fast sugars in long workout beverages.

Recipe for making a homemade isotonic drink

For short workouts (less than 2 hours)

Consider 30 g / l (warm weather) to 70 g / l (cold weather) sugar (sucrose) for an isotonic drink.
You can use sugar cubes or powder. Dissolve the sugar in a cup of green tea, lemon tea or
vanilla tea. Add a pinch of salt. Complete with water and cool down in a refrigerator. The drink
should be consumed within 24 hours. You can also replace sugar and tea by 50 cl of fruit juice
and complete with water.

For the pre-workout drink, reduce the amount of sugar and replace sucrose by fructose.
Fructose is a simple sugar that can be found in fruit and honey. Being assimilated by the body
more slowly than glucose or sucrose, it reduces the secretion of insulin and the risk of
hypoglycemia. A disadvantage of fructose, apart from its higher cost than sucrose, is that it is
sometimes poorly tolerated by the body. It can cause diarrhea or nausea.

For long workouts (over 2 hours)

For long efforts, drinks made of simple sugars are insufficient if not complemented by solid food
and / or by maltodextrins. The use of maltodextrins in complement of simple sugars (sucrose,
fructose) represents additional power which will be available approximately 2 hours after
absorption.

These glucose polymers, similar to carbohydrates although they are actually not, take some
time to break down into glucose.

To prepare a long effort drink, pour 30 to 40 g of maltodextrin in 1 liter of water or tea. Add 30 g
(warm weather) to 70 g (cold weather) sugar (sucrose) or syrup. Add a pinch of salt. You can
also replace sugar with 50 cl of fruit juice and complete with water. Cool down and drink within
24 hours.

When to hydrate?

Drink before feeling thirsty, absorbing small sips on a regular basis. The sensation of thirst
indicates a significant loss of water which will be difficult to recover. Do not ingest too large
quantities at a time as this would slow down the stomach activity which is limited to
approximately 750 ml per hour. Also note that every one percent of body weight lost in water
implies a decrease of 10% of the physical abilities! It is therefore essential to hydrate properly
before, during and after the effort.

Where to buy maltodextrin?

You will find maltodextrin in specialized shops or on the Internet . They are sold in packs of 1 to
4 kilos. These sugars are fairly expensive but offer substantial savings. A box of 4 kg lb allows
to prepare 100 to 130 litres of drink (i.e. 200 to 250 hours cycling or 50 long rides) for a price of
about 4 to 5 times lower than the drinks available in the market.