The Dangers of Sports Drinks for Ultramarathon Runners and Why Fizz from Hammer Nutrition is a Better Choice

Sports drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, and Kirkland Signature Sports drink sure seem like a great way to fuel for your race. They promise a thirst quenching way to replenish electrolytes and get a boost of energy while engaging in athletics, but ultramarathon running requires careful attention to nutrition and hydration, and these all in one energy and electrolyte slurries can cause problems during long races. These drinks contain a mind boggling amount of simple sugars that can cause GI problems during longer athletic pursuits.

Tastes refreshing going down, but how about coming back up? Research shows these drinks lead to GI distress when used in endurance running.

Why Simple Carbs in Gatorade Can Hurt Ultramarathon Performance

Gatorade and similar sports drinks rely heavily on simple carbohydrates like glucose and fructose to provide quick energy, containing up to 40g of sugar per bottle! That's about 7 packets of sugar! While this might work for shorter activities, during ultramarathon running simple sugars cause rapid spikes and crashes in blood sugar levels which can lead to energy slumps and fatigue during long races. This rollercoaster effect makes it difficult for runners to maintain steady energy output over many hours.

Moreover, simple sugars (carbohydrates) have been shown to upset the stomach leading to gastrointestinal distress. Research on the Simple Carb Problem shows:

• Our metabolism can only use simple carbohydrates at a rate of 1.0 gram per minute.

• Simple carbohydrates in sports drinks empty from the stomach more slowly than complex carbohydrates.

• This leads to sloshing of liquid in the stomach if we drink because we're thirsty.

• Simple carbs are quick, but unsustainable energy.

The combination of sugar spikes and stomach issues means that relying on Gatorade may actually hinder performance rather than help it.

How Fizz from Hammer Nutrition Supports Endurance Athletes Better

Fizz from Hammer Nutrition Canada is an electrolyte only dissolvable tablet with 0g of sugar. This allows ultrarunners to separate out their hydration and electrolyte replacement from their energy intake. Through this approach, you can hydrate to need without overwhelming your glucose receptors and having your stomach be full of unnecessary fuel that sloshes around and leads to discomfort.

Nutrient / Component	Gatorade Thirst Quencher (per 360 ml)	Hammer Endurolytes Fizz (per 1 tablet)
Sugars	21 g	0 g
Sodium	160 mg	200 mg
Potassium	50 mg	100 mg
Calcium	6 mg	100 mg
Magnesium	0 mg	50 mg
Manganese	0.1 mg	3 mg

As compared here, Gatorade's recipe favours high sugar and mostly sodium for their key electrolytic replacement. Fizz has a beneficial mix of critical minerals lost during athletic perspiration including critical trace minerals magnesium and manganese.

Separate Electrolyte Replacement from Fueling with Hammer Nutrition Fizz

By taking an approach where hydration + electrolyte replacement, and fueling are separate, you can reduce the risk of having sloshy unused fuel on your guts. Switching to Fizz for your electrolytes can be straightforward. Start by using it during training runs to see how your body responds. With several fun flavours to choose from, hydrating becomes delicious!

During races, use Fizz consistently rather than relying on simple sugar based drinks that cause energy spikes. Combining Fizz with solid foods like bananas or potatoes provides a well-rounded fueling strategy. but of course, every runner’s needs are different, so experiment to find what works best for you.

Use code RICHARD20 from our Hammer rep Richard for 20% off at checkout!

For more science based ways to fuel effectively for your ultramarathons, check out the research here > Why Gatorade Is Sabotaging Your Ultramarathon: The Simple Carb Problem - News