Do we need ISOTONIC drink ??

On Tuesday March 20, 2007 boxing fans were
shocked by the news on the death of Anis Dwi Mulya, a junior lightweight boxer from Amphibi Boxing Club of Sidoarjo, 5 days after he fought Irwan Bone in Indosiar Boxing Event. Anis is the 26th victim who died after fighting in the Indonesian Boxing event and according to the information of the physician who treated him, Anis died after undergoing surgery because of bleeding in his brain caused by punches in his head. According to Craig Christian from Australia, trainer of Crist John, the Indonesian hero boxer, who is currently WBA world champion in featherweight, in Bola newspaper April 6, 2007 edition says “Actually there is a very easy way to prevent a boxer’s death. Unfortunately not many people are aware of this easy and cheap way. The way is by drinking a lot of water. When receiving punches on the head, the brain is heavily shocked, and the fluid around the brain prevents the hard crash of the brain against the skull. If a boxer does not drink a lot, fluid around his brain will be certainly reduced. This condition is very
dangerous. The brain does not have a strong shock absorber when it is shocked by
punches.” Regardless of the situation, in a normal condition daily water need in general can be calculated in using the following formula:
30 – 40 ml/Kg BW/Day So, if your body weight is 70 kg then your
daily minimum need for water is 2.1 – 2.8 liters.

The fluid will be used by the body for replacing the outgoing fluid thru urine,
feces, skin or sweats and exhalation of breath and from the lungs.
If the body performs heavy physical work or exercise or suffers from diarrhea, the
amount of fluid exiting the body will increase drastically, thus it must be immediately replaced, otherwise we will experience dehydration which in turn will cause the body metabolism process to lower causing all parts of the body from the heart, kidneys, muscles and brain to experience decrease in their function and resilience.

Watch the Urine

Person who drinks correct amount of water will usually produce urine with light color; if the urine is dark it means that the water consumed is not sufficient. For that purpose, drink water, and don’t wait until you feel thirsty so that the water reserve in the body is maintained. Regarding the types, choose the one that
meets the need, appetite or limitation of our body, such as ordinary white water, tea, isotonic drink, fruit juice or other types. Our body needs water supply, more than a half of human body weight is water that can be found in cells and extra-cell fluid such as blood, lymph, saliva, tears, gland, and bowels.
Water is assigned to carry energy, product residues, hormone, antibodies, and heat.
In the blood, water is involved to regulate the acidity-alkalinity equilibrium, water wets the cell surfaces and membranes and thru breath water also functions as the main tool to regulate the temperature. When conducting activities in hot weather, sweat produces fluid and electrolyte around 1 liter per hour, it can even exceed 2 liters per hour.
Therefore, be careful and don’t have exercise by wearing a jacket during hot
day or having sauna wearing thick clothing in order to reduce body weight, because besides it is only water that exits from the body instead of fat, also sweat must be left to evaporate to dissipate heat and help avoid heat stroke.
According to Dr. Sadoso Sumosardjono in his book, Sehat dan Bugar (healthy & fit),
signs of a person suffering from heat stroke: no sweat, severe disorientation,
Vomiting, diarrhea, loss of motoric control, high body temperature, and unconscious.

Isotonic Drink

Started in 2000, the Indonesian hard Bottle drink market has been flooded
by isotonic drink. In sports term, isotonic means contraction against constant obstacle. According to dr. Samuel Oetoro, a medical consultant from Nutrifit Clinic quoted by Femina Magazine, “Ordinary white water cannot replace the
excessive loss of fluid and electrolyte caused by heavy and long sport activities
or diarrhea. To say clearly, white water can hardly replace the lost electrolyte thru sweat or urine.
When in fact electrolyte that leaves the body is salt solution which is important to
the body, without salt solution, white water will not be completely absorbed and
causes dehydration effect to the body.” Further he says that isotonic drink is drink
with composition designed in such a way in order for it to contain equal osmotic
pressure with human blood and with function as replacement for lost body fluid, energy and electrolyte because isotonic drink has high absorption capability in the
bowels.

If we observe and it is usually read in the can, bottle, or pack, the major composition of isotonic drink is still dominated by ordinary water reaching 98%, the remaining two percent consists of ion NaCl (natrium
chloride), KP (calcium phosphate), Mg (magnesium citrate) and Ca (calcium laktat).
Generally isotonic drink contains carbohydrate of around 6-8 percent of
nutrition sufficiency figure based on energy need of around 2000 kkal. This is line with the opinion of Dr. Sadoso S. in his other book i.e. Pengetahuan Praktis Kesehatan Dalam Olahraga (sports health practical knowledge), who says: “For exercises for at least 2 hours, it will be very helpful if we consume drink containing carbohydrate, and it should be isotonic drink or hypotonic drink
on the body fluid, so that it quickly passes the abdomen to the intestine (small bowels) and it should contain carbohydrate up to 20
gram percent.” Based on the above, when having common exercises routinely conducted such as walking, jogging, aerobic exercises, cycling, swimming, or games such as tennis, basket, table tennis, etc, which usually take between
30 to 60 minutes, it seems that it is sufficient to drink ordinary white water because the need for mineral ions is generally provided
by the daily foods.

Tips:

• How to prevent dehydration when you are going to conduct heavy sports activities or performing hard work.
. Try to drink one glass of water approximately 15-30 minutes before starting the activities.
. Try to drink during the break or rest.
. Drink enough water after finishing the activities

(Total Health Bulletin)