RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Comparative effects of selected non-caffeinated rehydration sports drinks on short-term performance following moderate dehydration Peter G Snell 1 , Robert Ward 2 , Chithan Kandaswami 3 , Sidney J Stohs 4* Abstract Background: The effect of moderate dehydration and consequent fluid replenishment on short-duration maximal treadmill performance was studied in eight healthy, fit (VO 2max = 49.7 ± 8.7 mL kg -1 min -1 ) males aged 28 ± 7.5 yrs. Methods: The study involved a within subject, blinded, crossover, placebo design. Initially, all subjects performed a baseline exercise test using an individualized treadmill protocol structured to induce exhaustion in 7 to 10 min. On each of the three subsequent testing days, the subjects exercised at 70-75% VO 2max for 60 min at 29-33°C, resulting in a dehydration weight loss of 1.8-2.1% body weight. After 60 min of rest and recovery at 22 C, subjects performed the same treadmill test to voluntary exhaustion, which resulted in a small reduction in VO 2max and a decline in treadmill performance by 3% relative to the baseline results. Following another 60 min rest and recovery, subjects ingested the same amount of fluid lost in the form of one of three lemon-flavored, randomly assigned commercial drinks, namely Crystal Light (placebo control), Gatorade® and Rehydrate Electrolyte Replacement Drink, and then repeated the treadmill test to voluntary exhaustion. Results: VO 2max returned to baseline levels with Rehydrate, while there was only a slight improvement with Gatorade and Crystal Light. There were no changes in heart rate or ventilation with all three different replacement drinks. Relative to the dehydrated state, a 6.5% decrease in treadmill performance time occurred with Crystal Light, while replenishment with Gatorade, which contains fructose, glucose, sodium and potassium, resulted in a 2.1% decrease. In contrast, treatment with Rehydrate, which comprises fructose, glucose polymer, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, amino acids, thiols and vitamins, resulted in a 7.3% increase in treadmill time relative to that of the dehydrated state. Conclusions: The results indicate that constituents other than water, simple transportable monosaccharides and sodium are important for maximal exercise performance and effective recovery associated with endurance exercise- induced dehydration. Background Both prolonged and intermittent exercise performed at high temperature increases metabolic rate and heat pro- duction [1], and culminates in dehydration [2]. The con- sequences of dehydration are the elevation of body temperature, steady increase in fluid and electrolyte losses, and the depletion of important nutrients, includ- ing muscle and hepatic glycogen [1-3]. Any fluid deficit that is incurred during one exercise session can potentially compromise the next exercise session if ade- quate fluid replacement does not occur. Therefore, it is exceedingly important to replace fluid and electrolyte losses, and replenish energy stores rapidly in order to achieve recovery before the advent of the next bout of exercise [3-5]. Fluid intake can attenuate or prevent many of the metabolic, cardiovascular, thermoregulatory and performance perturbations that accompany dehy- dration [6-8]. Ingestion of non-caffeinated sport drinks containing vital nutrients such as water, electrolytes and carbohy- drate during exercise may help maintain physiological homeostasis [5,9-11], resulting in enhanced performance * Correspondence: sstohs@yahoo.com 4 Creighton University Health Sciences Center, Omaha, NE, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Snell et al. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2010, 7:28 http://www.jissn.com/content/7/1/28 © 2010 Snell et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.