© Kamla-Raj 2015 Anthropologist, 21(1,2): 213-218 (2015) The Effect of Drinking Water and Isotonic Sports Drinks in Elite Wrestlers Bilal Demirhan 1, 3 , Asim Cengiz 2 , Mehmet Gunay 2 , Mehmet Türkmen 1 and Serdar Geri 3 1 Ondokuz Mayis University, Yasar Dogu Faculty of Sports Sciences, Samsun, Turkey 2 Gazi University, Department of Physical Education and Sports, Ankara, Turkey 3 Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, PE and Sport Dept., Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan E-mail: 1, 3 <bilaldemirhan55@gmail.com>, 2 <acengiz@studentsussa.edu>, 2 <mgunay1966@gmail.com>, 1 <turkmenafsin@hotmail.com>, 3 <serdargeri@gmail.com> KEYWORDS Performance. Rehydration. Sports Drinks. Water. Wrestling ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of sports drinks (isotonic) and water consumptions of the elite wrestlers during the exercise. Eighteen-trained elite wrestlers participated in this study. The subjects were divided into two groups according to their body-weight and were also given either water or isotonic sports drink. Water and sports drinks get rid of the dehydration during the trainings (P>0.05). Blood samples were taken before and after the exercises,and were analyzed for Sodium (Na), Potassium (K) and Chlorine (Cl). Body temperatures of subjects were measured as ºC. Post exercise sodium values of the two experimental groups were lower than the pre-exercise values (P<0.05) and there were nosignificant differences between sodium values of these two groups. Water could be replaced with sports drinks for shorter activities as compared to the sports drinks. Thus, water is very helpful for athletes when water is consumed before and during the exercise. INTRODUCTION It is a well known fact that nutrition is very important for athletes during competitions. For this reason, athletes use ergogenic aids. One of those ergogenic aids athletes use is sports drink, and it is usually preferred instead of water among the athletes. Elite wrestlers have to overcome 5 tough matches in order to win the gold medal. In every round in which they get tired, they con- sume liquids to recover themselves as soon as possible. To improve their performance, athletes should apply the proper training programs and a good diet program. Recent studies have shown that the number of the meals and consuming liq- uids are very important for sports performance (Saglam1993). For being healthy and reaching their optimal performance, athletes have to con- sume these liquids periodically. Their bodies are dehydrated and they lose 2-3 percent of their body weights during the competitions (A 70 weighted person loses approximately 1.5,2 kg) and this situation affects their performance in a negative way. Also, when 4 percent of their body weight is lost, the blood volume of the athletes’ decreases and cardiovascular thermoregulatory functions suffer (Ersoy 1993). Ergogenic aids increase sporting perfor- mance besides the training affects; also, they can be defined as aids that can delay tiredness with increasing energy production. Some vita- mins, minerals, amino acids, plants, metabolites and different combinations can be qualified as ergogenic aids (Ersoy 1993; Gunay and Cicioglu 2001; Then et al. 1995). Sports drinks can also be classified as ergo- genic aid. Athletes consume them during the competitions to boost their performances and compensate the dehydration and electrolyte loss. Many athletes increased their rate of drinking sports drinks (Fahlström et al. 2006). Many sports drinks consist of carbohydrates, minerals, elec- trolytes (for example sodium, potassium, calci- um magnesium) and some vitamins (Committee 2011). The carbohydrate contributes to perfor- mance enhancement by offsetting the depletion of the body’s stores of carbohydrate, which is the main fuel for intense endurance exercise. The sodium in the drinks contributes either by in- creasing the uptake of carbohydrate from the gut or by offsetting the decrease in circulating fluid volume that happens through sweating or a shift of fluid into active muscle. The stimulation of carbohydrate receptors in the mouth may also have an ergogenic effect (Carter et al. 2004; Cham-