Downing the wrong type of drink when you exercise could put you at risk of kidney disease, a new study warns.
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Specifically, the threat is from having sugary, caffeinated soft drinks during exertion in a hot environment, according to researchers at the University at Buffalo in New York.
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The small study included 12 healthy adults who did long stretches of exercise in a laboratory setting replicating a 95-degree day. In one session, the study participants drank a high-fructose, caffeinated soft drink, and in the other, they drank water. At least seven days passed between sessions.
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After the session in which they were given the soft drink, participants had higher levels of creatinine in the blood and a lower “glomerular filtration rate” – both of which are markers for kidney injury.
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These temporary changes did not occur when participants drank water during exercise, the researchers said in a news release from the American Physiological Society.
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The investigators also found that during and after drinking the soft drink, participants had higher blood levels of vasopressin, a hormone that raises blood pressure. They also were mildly dehydrated, noted study corresponding author Zachary Schlader, an assistant professor of exercise and nutrition science, and his colleagues.
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“The consumption of soft drinks during and following exercise in the heat does not rehydrate,” the researchers reported. “Thus, consuming soft drinks as a rehydration beverage during exercise in the heat may not be ideal.”
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The study was recently published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.
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In the workout sessions, participants spent 30 minutes on a treadmill, followed by three 5-minute lifting, dexterity and sledgehammer swinging activities. Then they rested for 15 minutes while drinking 16 ounces of either the soft drink or water.
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After the break, they repeated the cycle three more times over a total of four hours. Before leaving the lab, participants were given more of their assigned beverage to drink before having any other fluids.
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Before, immediately after, and 24 hours after each trial, the researchers measured the participants’ body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, weight and markers of kidney injury.
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Schlader and his colleagues said more research will be needed to understand the long-term effects of soft drink consumption during exercise and how it might be associated with kidney disease risk.
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The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on exercise and hydration.
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SOURCE: American Physiological Society news release, Jan. 17, 2019
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