Water, sugar, a pinch of salt, a splash of juice — that is all a sports drink is. What the evidence covers, what is kitchen practice, and where we honestly pass.
The short answer: a sports drink is water, sugar, a pinch of salt and a bit of flavour. There is nothing more in the 3-euro bottle either — nothing that makes a difference to you, at least. Mixed yourself, the same amount costs a few cents.
And the honesty up front, because this topic is full of invented numbers: what is documented is why the ingredients are in there. The exact amounts are kitchen practice. Below we tell you very precisely which sentence belongs in which category.
The sugar part is documented: a single type of carbohydrate is used at a maximum of around 60 g per hour, because the transporter through the gut wall is occupied by then; only the combination of glucose and fructose at roughly 2:1 makes recommendations of up to 90 g per hour possible for ultra distances [1]. In practice: you cannot pour enough into a bottle for more to help.
The salt part is documented too: sodium supports thirst and fluid retention [2] — it keeps you wanting to drink and keeps more of what you drink inside you. Which is why that pinch of salt is the ingredient most often forgotten and most often worth having.
Honest answer: mostly not.
A sports drink does not replace fitness. It only makes a good session more pleasant.
Here is the starting point most people do well with. Explicitly flagged as a kitchen recipe — it comes from the kitchen, not from a study:
Per 500 ml of water: - 25 to 30 g of sugar (roughly two heaped teaspoons to two tablespoons — weigh it once, spoons lie) - a knife tip of salt — so little that you do not taste it as salty - a squeeze of lemon or 50 to 100 ml of juice
Drink that bottle across an hour and you land at around 25 to 30 g of carbohydrate per hour. That is deliberately at the lower end: the documented absorption ceiling of around 60 g per hour [1] is an upper limit, not a target. You can build up later; correcting downwards is harder once your stomach has shut the door.
If you do not want to weigh anything at all: one part juice, one to two parts water, a knife tip of salt. Done.
Apple juice carries roughly 10 g of sugar per 100 ml — check your carton once, it is printed on it. Diluted 1:1 you land at around 5 g per 100 ml, so about 25 g in half a bottle. Startlingly close to the shop-bought product.
That also answers the classic question: yes, diluted apple juice is pretty close to a sports drink. What it lacks is the sodium that supports thirst and fluid retention [2]. That pinch of salt is the entire difference.
For many of the numbers circulating in DIY recipes we found no solid source — so we do not write them down. Specifically:
Better one number fewer than one invented.
The most common beginner mistake is a drink that is too sweet. Think "twice the sugar, twice the energy" and what you mainly get is a drink that sits in your stomach and goes down hard.
And absorption will not play along anyway: above the limit of around 60 g per hour from a single type of sugar, nothing more reaches the muscle [1]. Better to keep it thinner and drink more of it.
Treat your recipe like a new pair of shoes: break it in on easy sessions, then race in it. Three long sessions with the same mix are enough to know whether your stomach is on board.
One more thing that belongs in the picture: the nutrition plan in the Lab takes care of the plate — weekly plan, shopping list, pack sizes. Your drink is the one part of sports nutrition that needs no plan at all. Two minutes in the kitchen and it is handled.
This guide is kitchen and training practice and does not replace medical or dietetic advice. If you have high blood pressure, a heart, kidney or liver condition, take diuretic medication or are pregnant, discuss sodium intake with a doctor before increasing it. With diabetes the same applies to the sugar: a sports drink is a carbohydrate source like any other and belongs in your calculation.
Salt does not make overdrinking safe. Drink substantially more than you lose over several hours and you risk exercise-associated hyponatraemia — a medical emergency. Headache, nausea, confusion or weight gain during the effort are alarm signals and belong in medical hands immediately.
Two small things to close: sugary, acidic drinks attack tooth enamel — rinse with water after the session. And an unchilled sugar solution in a rucksack is, after a few hours of summer heat, no longer a drink but a petri dish.
Mix the dry blend in advance: sugar and salt in the ratio of your recipe into a tin, shaken well, with a small measuring spoon. Out on the road you then need only water and ten seconds — no weighing at a petrol station, no sticky sachet in your jersey pocket.
For longer sessions, the second trick: two bottles, one with the drink, one with plain water. That lets you steer drinking and refuelling separately when your stomach takes a different view on the day than your plan did.
As a practice starting point: 25 to 30 g of sugar and a knife tip of salt per 500 ml of water. The sugar figure sits at the lower end of what gets absorbed — the documented ceiling for a single type of sugar is around 60 g per hour [1]. There is no reputable milligram figure for sodium; the spread between people is too large.
Pretty close. Apple juice carries roughly 10 g of sugar per 100 ml, and diluted 1:1 you land in a usable range. What is missing is sodium — and that supports thirst and fluid retention [2]. A knife tip of salt turns the shandy into a real sports drink.
Not under an hour at moderate intensity — water is fine there. From around an hour a drink solves two jobs at once: hydration and refuelling. From two and a half hours, or in the heat, it stops being a luxury and becomes the simplest way not to forget either.
That the concentration of dissolved particles roughly matches that of blood. You cannot measure it at home, and as a selling point it is overrated. Two things decide, and you control both: that you tolerate the drink, and that its carbohydrate load fits the duration and intensity of your session [1].
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