No magic water for Olympic marathon runners
http://www.japantoday.com/category/sports/view/no- [2008-7-4]
Tag : sweet water
TOKYO — In an average marathon, runners may have to drink up to 3 liters ofwater before they cross the finishing line, and at various pointsalong the course bottles of "specialdrinks’’ whose contents take the weather and physicalconditions into account are made available to them.
Such drinks used to be mostly sweet tea, to supply water and sugarcontent to runners. Akemi Masuda, a Japanese female marathon runnerwho competed in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, said herfavorite was Earl Grey tea with honey. "But I drank too much, so I’d actually gainedweight by the time I crossed the finishing line,’’ saidMasuda, now 44. American runners love Coca-Cola without the carbonic acid, whileEthiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila, who won the gold medal at the1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, drank specially made water melon juice.
Gone were the days when runners were told not to drink water evenin the summer and the importance of hydration had been recognized,leading to the creation of new drinks that shift attention fromtaste to "victory."
In the 1980s isotonic drinks came on the scene, including‘‘Aquarius’’ produced by Coca-Cola (Japan)Co. Such drinks have the same osmotic pressure as bodily fluids,and from such drinks runners can easily absorb water, sugar andminerals lost through perspiration. With their refreshing taste,such drinks have become popular not only among athletes but alsothe general public.
Around that time, Takeshi Abe, now 65, a researcher at the thenInstitute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken), which becamean independent administrative institution in 2003, was studying themode of life of hornets among the plants on the Sayama hills inSaitama Prefecture.
"A hornet flies about 100 kilometers every daycarrying food to its nest. I wondered what the secret of itsstamina was," he said. An adult hornet feeds locustsand other insects to its larvae, and receives a nutrient fluid thatcomes from them.
He discovered that the fluid is a combination of many kinds ofamino acid, and he jointly developed the artificially produceddrink "Vaarm" with Meiji Dairies Corp,which started marketing it in 1995. An official at Meiji said, "Amino acids composed in aunique balance help fat to be burned off duringexercise." The drink became a big name when female marathoner Naoko Takahashi,now 36 and a fan of the drink, won the gold medal in the 2000Sydney Olympic Games, and its sales the following year totaled 8.5billion yen, more than twice those of the previous year. The "Amino Value" marketed by OtsukaPharmaceutical Co in 2003 and loved by Mizuki Noguchi, 29, who wonthe gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, also includesamino acids but has a different history.
The company studied whether its drug manufacturing technology couldbe used in the health food field and paid attention tobranched-chain amino acids (BCAA) used in fluid infusion. The main problem was its taste, as amino acids have a bitterflavor. ‘‘We took great pains to develop a taste thatwould be enjoyable," said Yusuke Shimada, 37, amarketing manager. Using the company’s unique technology toconceal the bitterness, improvements were repeated forcommercialization.
He said, ‘‘BCAA is an important energy source formuscles but cannot be composed in the body. Many people aredrinking it because it has many contents, and it istasty," he said. But Kojiro Ishii, 44, a professor of fitness conditioning atDoshisha University, said, "Amino acid drinks arepopular in Japan but in few other countries. Conventional drinksthat supply water, sugar and minerals are mostly drunkworldwide."
Although marathon runners know there is no "magicwater" that will guarantee victory, hydration will bekey to the marathon events at the Beijing Olympic Games to be heldin the scorching heat of August.
According to Ishii, who lectured at the Japan Association ofAthletics Federations in March, a runner sweats off more than 1liter per hour during a summer marathon race.
"There is a limit to the amount of water the body canabsorb, but 1 liter is not enough. Symptoms similar to dehydrationwill definitely appear, so effective water supplies areimportant," he said.
Some marathon runners are seeking more effective drinks to preservetheir physical strength in preparation for the final spurt, butIshii, who has long contemplated the reasons for success andfailure by analyzing blood and urine samples from runners takenboth before the start and after the race, said, "Whenrunners stand at the starting line, there is already a differencebetween winners and losers."
"Many athletes who suffer from dehydration and lowlevels of sugar already have a shortage of water and sugar contentat the starting point. They should prepare for races withsufficient water and sugar content. This may seem natural but itcannot easily be done on a large stage," Ishii said.
TOKYO — In an average marathon, runners may have to drink up to 3 liters ofwater before they cross the finishing line, and at various pointsalong the course bottles of "specialdrinks’’ whose contents take the weather and physicalconditions into account are made available to them.
Such drinks used to be mostly sweet tea, to supply water and sugarcontent to runners. Akemi Masuda, a Japanese female marathon runnerwho competed in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, said herfavorite was Earl Grey tea with honey. "But I drank too much, so I’d actually gainedweight by the time I crossed the finishing line,’’ saidMasuda, now 44. American runners love Coca-Cola without the carbonic acid, whileEthiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila, who won the gold medal at the1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, drank specially made water melon juice.
Gone were the days when runners were told not to drink water evenin the summer and the importance of hydration had been recognized,leading to the creation of new drinks that shift attention fromtaste to "victory."
In the 1980s isotonic drinks came on the scene, including‘‘Aquarius’’ produced by Coca-Cola (Japan)Co. Such drinks have the same osmotic pressure as bodily fluids,and from such drinks runners can easily absorb water, sugar andminerals lost through perspiration. With their refreshing taste,such drinks have become popular not only among athletes but alsothe general public.
Around that time, Takeshi Abe, now 65, a researcher at the thenInstitute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken), which becamean independent administrative institution in 2003, was studying themode of life of hornets among the plants on the Sayama hills inSaitama Prefecture.
"A hornet flies about 100 kilometers every daycarrying food to its nest. I wondered what the secret of itsstamina was," he said. An adult hornet feeds locustsand other insects to its larvae, and receives a nutrient fluid thatcomes from them.
He discovered that the fluid is a combination of many kinds ofamino acid, and he jointly developed the artificially produceddrink "Vaarm" with Meiji Dairies Corp,which started marketing it in 1995. An official at Meiji said, "Amino acids composed in aunique balance help fat to be burned off duringexercise." The drink became a big name when female marathoner Naoko Takahashi,now 36 and a fan of the drink, won the gold medal in the 2000Sydney Olympic Games, and its sales the following year totaled 8.5billion yen, more than twice those of the previous year. The "Amino Value" marketed by OtsukaPharmaceutical Co in 2003 and loved by Mizuki Noguchi, 29, who wonthe gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, also includesamino acids but has a different history.
The company studied whether its drug manufacturing technology couldbe used in the health food field and paid attention tobranched-chain amino acids (BCAA) used in fluid infusion. The main problem was its taste, as amino acids have a bitterflavor. ‘‘We took great pains to develop a taste thatwould be enjoyable," said Yusuke Shimada, 37, amarketing manager. Using the company’s unique technology toconceal the bitterness, improvements were repeated forcommercialization.
He said, ‘‘BCAA is an important energy source formuscles but cannot be composed in the body. Many people aredrinking it because it has many contents, and it istasty," he said. But Kojiro Ishii, 44, a professor of fitness conditioning atDoshisha University, said, "Amino acid drinks arepopular in Japan but in few other countries. Conventional drinksthat supply water, sugar and minerals are mostly drunkworldwide."
Although marathon runners know there is no "magicwater" that will guarantee victory, hydration will bekey to the marathon events at the Beijing Olympic Games to be heldin the scorching heat of August.
According to Ishii, who lectured at the Japan Association ofAthletics Federations in March, a runner sweats off more than 1liter per hour during a summer marathon race.
"There is a limit to the amount of water the body canabsorb, but 1 liter is not enough. Symptoms similar to dehydrationwill definitely appear, so effective water supplies areimportant," he said.
Some marathon runners are seeking more effective drinks to preservetheir physical strength in preparation for the final spurt, butIshii, who has long contemplated the reasons for success andfailure by analyzing blood and urine samples from runners takenboth before the start and after the race, said, "Whenrunners stand at the starting line, there is already a differencebetween winners and losers."
"Many athletes who suffer from dehydration and lowlevels of sugar already have a shortage of water and sugar contentat the starting point. They should prepare for races withsufficient water and sugar content. This may seem natural but itcannot easily be done on a large stage," Ishii said.
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