Grassroots Health Preface: Sweat is not just water; it contains a rich variety of components, from small amounts of proteins and amino acids to sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, as well as various water-soluble vitamins, all of which can be found in sweat. The body evaporates sweat, concentrating the blood at the surface, and for some who are already physically weak, this leads to reduced secretion of gastrointestinal digestive fluids, resulting in loss of appetite and decreased digestive function. A lack of potassium reduces one's resistance to heat, while a deficiency in B vitamins further decreases appetite. The hotter it gets, the less people want to eat, and the less they eat, the worse they handle the heat, forming a vicious cycle. Therefore, replenishing water should be combined with supplementing various nutrients.
Homemade Porridge Soup: The Most Nutritious Way to Replenish Water
The best way to replenish water is drinking non-iced porridge, soup, gruel, or other liquid and semi-liquid foods, such as red bean rice porridge, mung bean black bean soup, egg flower corn gruel, millet lily porridge, five-grain soy milk, etc. These contain a small amount of starch, along with B vitamins, minerals, and small amounts of protein and amino acids, making them much better than plain water for nutrient supplementation. Additionally, porridge and soup promote the secretion of digestive fluids, helping maintain good digestion and absorption during summer and avoiding nutrient deficiencies. Room temperature porridge and soup do not irritate the stomach or cause vasoconstriction, and slightly warm porridge and soup can even promote sweating, making them more effective than cold drinks for dissipating body heat.
Besides three meals a day, tea and fruit drinks are also suitable for summer consumption, such as green tea, oolong tea, chrysanthemum tea, barley tea, lemon water, fresh squeezed fruit and vegetable juice, etc. These drinks are rich in potassium, and contain small amounts of B vitamins and vitamin C, making them more effective than plain water.
Making healthy homemade porridge, soups, teas, and drinks is ideal. However, when traveling without your own beverages, you may have to rely on store-bought drinks. Among these, which drinks are most effective for cooling down? Prioritize low-sugar options.
Most store-bought drinks are sweet. Low-sugar drinks contain 3%~6% sugar, while those that taste obviously sweet contain 8%~10% sugar. In comparison, low-sugar, caffeine-free drinks are more beneficial for hydration. They supplement sugar without significantly interfering with water absorption, whereas regular sweetness drinks have too high osmotic pressure, hindering water absorption and delaying gastric emptying.
Additionally, metabolizing sugar in the body consumes B vitamins, and heavy sweating due to high temperatures results in significant B vitamin loss. Drinking large amounts of sugary beverages exacerbates the problem of B vitamin deficiency. Although many store-bought drinks add vitamin C, most do not contain B vitamins.
Various sports drinks include plenty of sodium and potassium, some also include magnesium and calcium, even niacin and vitamin C, making them relatively suitable for consumption after heavy sweating. However, none of them contain vitamin B1 or B2 because these vitamins affect taste and color negatively. Thus, they cannot completely solve the problem of B vitamin loss during summer sweating and cannot replace main meals and soups. Cold drinks are not as beneficial as yogurt.
Children and young people love various frozen sweets and cold drinks, especially ice cream and popsicles. Eating cool frozen treats feels comfortable, but this is not an effective way to quench thirst.
Ice cream's main ingredients are sugar, milk, eggs, cream, or hydrogenated vegetable oil, along with stabilizers and other flavor enhancers. Its osmotic pressure is very high, so it has no effect on quenching thirst. However, ice cream contains higher levels of fat, protein, calcium, and certain vitamins A, D, and B, qualifying it as a nutritional frozen dessert. The higher the sugar and fat content, the more delicious and rich the ice cream tastes, but this inevitably brings about the problem of excessive energy intake. Moreover, ice cream made with hydrogenated vegetable oil introduces unhealthy trans fats.
Regular popsicles and ice sticks have lower fat content than ice cream but also lower nutritional value. They contain large amounts of sugar and various artificial flavors and colors, making them unsuitable for young children. They have no "cooling" effect, and overconsumption can lead to "heatiness" in children, particularly reducing digestive and throat resistance, increasing the risk of respiratory and intestinal infections.
In contrast, yogurt is refreshing, sweet and sour, and highly nutritious, comparable to milk. It helps replenish calcium, multiple B vitamins, vitamins A and D, and protein. During the summer when food intake may be insufficient, drinking yogurt is a healthy choice for a cold drink.
Which Drinks Should Not Be Consumed Excessively
Caffeinated energy drinks are not suitable as hydration drinks. Due to their high concentration of caffeine, which has diuretic effects, they hinder the retention of water in the body and increase calcium excretion, increasing the risk of kidney stones during the summer when urine becomes concentrated. Alcoholic beer should also not be consumed excessively, as alcohol is a diuretic, and both its sugar and alcohol content contribute to energy, increasing the risk of obesity.
Many people like carbonated drinks, but these are not healthy choices for summer. Drinking chilled carbonated drinks temporarily cools down the body by taking away a little heat from the intestines, but they actually reduce skin sweat production, hindering body heat dissipation. Carbonated drinks have extremely low nutritional value, lacking the vitamins and electrolytes needed after sweating, and can easily cause esophageal acid reflux.
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