Friday 23 March 2012

The Dehydration Myth

Tim Noakes has written widely on the 'Science of Hydration', and the concept he states was developed by the sports' industry and their parent companies in the late eighties.


This blog he has just written is in response to the Readers' Poll in British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM), and demonstrates the level of (mis)understanding present in the field.


BJSM Readers' Poll Response


Dr Noakes is a Sports Physician and Exercise Physiologist at the University of Cape Town and Sports' Science Institute of South Africa. He was part of an evidence based review along with Chad Asplund & Francis Connor (see Exercise-Associated Collapse PDF Br J Sports Med 2011;45:1157-1162 ) examining Exercise-associated collapse (EAC) which occurs typically  at the end of endurance running events.


Ultimately a key point on dehydration is made by Noakes in the discussion of exercise-induced weight loss. He reports that heatstroke & all heat illnesses are unrelated to measures of fluid balance: losses encountered include that due to irreversible oxidation of fuels. He also concludes that fluid loss during exercise has only  a marginal effect on core temperature.


All of this means that we simply have to keep our minds open to the evidence, not just the advertising or the hype.

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