Added salt not always good for athletes
By Erin Beresini, Outside
Been popping salt pills like M&Ms during long workouts thinking they’ll do your body good?
You might want to think again: According to St. Louis University nutrition and dietetics professor, Ted Weiss, extra sodium from concentrated sources like salt capsules doesn’t actually enhance athletic performance. In fact, downing the pills may even cause hypertension.
“A lot of sports nutrition practices directly contradict what we know about positive health practices,” Weiss says. “Just because something makes you run faster doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Cocaine does that too, but that doesn’t mean it’s good for you.”
For years, the FDA has recommended Americans take in no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. But endurance athletes can easily exceed that amount when they gulp electrolyte capsules during exercise—some pills are stuffed with more than 200 milligrams of sodium each.
