Or even better.
We’ve all seen those advertisements with extreme athletes downing a Red Bull or a Monster and then casually doing loop-de-loops on a dirt bike, or something along those lines. Despite Red Bull’s claim to “give you wings,” it turns out that adding a spoonful of sugar to water provides just as good of a kick as an energy drink — it may even be better.
Researchers at the University of Bath in the UK found that, by stirring some regular table sugar into water, the simple mixture was enough to ward off tiredness in endurance sports, like long-distance cycling. They compared the effects of both sucrose- and glucose-based drinks to see how they were able to maintain the energy that our bodies store in the liver in the form of glycogen.
"The carbohydrate stores in our liver are vitally important when it comes to endurance exercise as they help us to maintain a stable blood sugar level," lead researcher Javier Gonzalez said in a press release. "Our study showed that ingesting carbohydrates during exercise can prevent the depletion of carbohydrate stores in the liver but not in muscle. This may be one of the ways in which carbohydrate ingestion improves endurance performance.”
Sucrose and glucose are both carbohydrates known as “simple sugars,” and both are quickly absorbed by the body to produce energy. However, despite the similarities, they’re quite different from a molecular perspective.
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As explained in the press release, the major difference between the two is that sucrose molecules are made up of a link between one glucose and one fructose molecule. Combining different sources of sugar appears to improve the rate at which we can absorb them from the gut.
Why does that matter? Because sports and energy drinks differ when it comes to sugars — some contain only sucrose (the sugar you can buy at the grocery store), some contain mixtures of glucose and fructose, and others purely contain glucose. While they’ll all taste sweet and flavorful to your taste buds, your body will be able to tell a stark difference.
In comparing the effects, the researchers found that sucrose is absorbed in the gut at a faster rate, and that glucose-only energy and sports drinks can actually produce gut discomfort.
"We [found] that the exercise felt easier, and the gut comfort of the cyclists was better, when they ingested sucrose compared to glucose," said Gonzalez. "This suggests that, when your goal is to maximise carbohydrate availability, sucrose is probably a better source of carbohydrate to ingest than glucose."
But before you go dumping table sugar into a water bottle, the scientists recommend sticking to a certain amount based on your exercise goals. They say if your goal is optimal performance for over two and a half hours, then consume up to 90 grams of sugar per hour, diluted to 8 grams sugar per 100 milliliters.
Admittedly, sugar water doesn’t look as cool as an energy drink, and it certainly wouldn’t taste as good. But energy drinks are expensive, not to mention they’re packed with extra, unnatural ingredients. Solution? Make your own natural energy drinks right at home.
Websites like Daily Burn and Everyday Roots provide a handful of recipes to make your own energy drinks full of natural ingredients and electrolytes. From a DIY organic gatorade to a coconut watermelon workout drink, these healthy alternatives sound tasty enough to beat energy drinks any day.
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