Sports drinks may help athletes keep their immune systems in shape

Forget the vitamins. The best supplement to help athletes’ bodies recover from the stress of heavy-duty exercise is good old-fashioned sugar -- found in sports drinks.

That’s because the drinks, which are 6% to 8% sugar, help restore much of the body’s depleted supply of carbohydrates. Sports drinks supply forms of sugar, such as glucose and sucrose, that are quickly absorbed and in optimal concentrations. Fruit drinks contain fructose, which can lead to cramping or stomach upset.

David Neiman, a marathon runner and researcher at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., has devoted a decade to studying the effects of sports drinks on athletes’ immune systems.

Giving marathoners 1,000 to 1,500 milligrams of vitamin C every day for a week before a race had no effect on helping the stressed immune system in three studies he conducted. Nor did giving 800 units of vitamin E to triathletes every day for two months before their competition. Rather than counter immune system changes, the vitamin E showed signs of increasing the stress, he said.

The magic bullet, if one exists, is a liter of a sports drink for every hour of heavy exertion, said Nieman, a professor in the department of health, leisure and exercise science.

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Jane E. Allen