With the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on everyone’s minds this July, we’re continuing our series on the importance of hydration.

In Part 1 of 2 of this series on hydration, we noted via infotainment some considerations as to when it might be most appropriate to use just cool (not cold) water to rehydrate and when something more might be needed.

(Symbol of the five Olympic Rings which is in the Public Domain in the United States shown for identification purposes only courtesy of Wikipedia Commons).

We’ll get into a bit more of the subject of hydration in this infotainment blog post, including how to possibly estimate fluid losses during exercise; and potential hydration issues to be aware of before, during, and after sports or artistic performance activities.

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Every 4 years it’s time for another Summer Olympics and the world turns its eyes toward the value of sports in our collective lives.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a world class athlete, a “weekend warrior” or the parent of a young person active in sports, you still need to be aware of some critical aspects of nutrition that can affect sports performance and overall health.

(Rethink Your Drink graphic courtesy of the CDC)

Olympic athletes know that adequate hydration along with other factors of optimal nutrition for sports performance can mean the difference between standing on the medal stand or just watching the ceremonies from the sidelines.

For the rest of us who may be “weekend warriors” or supportive parents or family members of youngsters learning life lessons from sports involvement, paying close attention to adequate hydration may mean one does the best one can for that performance. There is nothing like experiencing a “personal best” in any sport or artistic performance category no matter what level of athlete someone is. Family experience in dance, ultra-running, and equestrian pursuits has taught us that.

With the world focusing on the upcoming 2012 London Olympic Games, we’d like to offer some infotainment regarding hydration while staying active during summer heat in the Northern Hemisphere.

(Symbol of the five Olympic Rings which is in the Public Domain in the United States shown for identification purposes only courtesy of Wikipedia Commons).

The following content will mention some general hydration principles for infotainment purposes only.

For athlete specific, personalized advice, always work one-on-one with a competent Registered Dietitian or Exercise Physiologist who has a background in exercise science, sports, and nutrition when it comes to planning for any unique individual’s athletic nutritional needs prior to, during, and post exercise.

SCAN can help any athlete locate a Sports Dietitian in your area in the USA available to work specifically with any athlete’s needs. SCAN stands for the Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group (DPG) of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics which one of us happens to belong to.

Today in this Part 1 of 2 blog post in this series, we’ll focus on the basics of hydration, the main differences between sports drinks and energy drinks, and include some considerations specifically for children. In future blog posts, we will finish up hydration and then go into the food side of fueling up.

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In Part 1 of 2 in this blog post series, we addressed some infotainment after the release by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in conjunction with the American Heart Association (AHA) of a scientific statement relative to nonnutritive sweeteners that the press considered newsworthy.

(Sweetener image courtesy of wax114 at rgbstock.com)

On July 9, 2012,  the ADA/AHA scientific statement provided a current use and health perspective on Acesulfame-K, Aspartame, Neotame, Saccharin, Stevia Glucosides, and Sucralose, which are 6 of the 7 nonnutritive sweeteners currently approved for use in the US by the FDA. The 7th nonnutritive sweetener also approved for use in the US by the FDA, luo han guo fruit extract, was not addressed in the scientific statement. At this time, certain other nonnutritive sweeteners such as Alitame, Cyclamates, Neohesperidine, and Thaumatin that are approved for use in the food supply in use in other parts of the world are NOT approved for use in the US as of the date of this blog post.

We noted in that Part 1 of 2 blog post that sweeteners fall into one of two major categories: Nutritive (which include sugar alcohols and various carbohydrates), or Nonnutritive.

Nutritive sweeteners can occur naturally in food items or can be added during food preparation or processing. They include carbohydrate as well as sugar alcohol forms.

Unlike nonnutritive sweeteners, nutritive sweeteners refer to sweetening products that contribute calories to the diet.

Some of these nutritive sweeteners are obviously alternatives to the most common table sugar (i.e. sucrose). These carbohydrate based nutritive sweeteners (NOT sugar alcohols) typically provide close to 4 calories per gram of product consumed. The sugar alcohol based nutritive sweeteners, on the other hand, are types of polyols formed from the partial breakdown and hydrogenation of edible starches. Sugar alcohols are sweet, but contribute ~ 0.2-2.6 calories per gram of product consumed.

In this Part 2 of 2 in this blog series, let’s review through infotainment some of what has been written about various nutritive sweeteners focusing on evidence-based facts and dispelling some fictional myths.

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Since we’re in the middle of our series on sweeteners, we thought we would share some more flavorful nutritive sweetener options, including ways to use less of nutritive sweeteners in some recipes and how to otherwise enhance the perception of sweetness in a recipe. (Colors of Maple Syrup with lighter shades at the start of the sugar maple sap harvest season and darkening towards the end of the “sugaring” season in the state of NH image courtesy of mejones via rgbstock.com).

First, some general rules of thumb to keep in mind.

In many bar cookies and quick breads, you can cut back to using only 3/4 of or perhaps even 2/3 of the amount of granulated white sugar called for in the recipe and often still have an acceptable product.

Note that it is not suggested to use this approach of reducing granulated white sugar content in yeast bread doughs where a limited amount of sugar is typically used purely as a food source for the yeast, although for any filling or icing it may be possible to use less added sugar or a fruit based option with no added sugar instead.

When cutting back on granulated white sugar content, try using some flavoring extract such as almond, vanilla, lemon, or orange if the recipe doesn’t already call for a flavoring extract to enhance product sweetness perception.

Consider if the recipe would be appropriate for adding a spice which can intensify the perception of sweetness in a recipe. Possibilities to consider include ground forms of allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger +/or nutmeg.

As a general rule when dealing with nutritive sweeteners in cooking and baking, replace liquids with liquids and granular forms with other granular forms UNLESS you desire to alter the texture of the original product through making a substitution.

Some examples of nutritive sweetener terms (besides white granulated sugar) that you might find on ingredient labels anywhere, including in summer Farmers Markets and regular retail stores include, but are not limited to: agave syrup (has a very high fructose content); anhydrous dextrose; apple juice concentrate; barley malt; brown rice syrup; brown sugar; coconut palm sugar aka coconut sugar or palm sugar; concentrated fruit juice sweeteners; corn sweetener; corn syrup; corn syrup solids; crystal dextrose; dextrin; dextrose; evaporated cane juice; fructose; fructose sweetener; galactose (from lactose); glucose; grape juice concentrate; high fructose corn syrup (HFCS); honey; hydrogenated starch hydrolysates (HCH); icing sugar; invert sugar; lactose; levulose; liquid fructose; maltodextrins; malt syrup; maltose; maple syrup; molasses; orange juice concentrate; pancake syrup; palm sugar; powdered sugar aka 10X sugar or baker’s sugar; raw sugar; simple sugar; sucrose or superfine sugar (the latter is used in making alcoholic beverages by bartenders), tagatose (found in nature and also can be manufactured from lactose); & turbinado sugar.

Only some of those nutritive sweetener options are available to those who cook or bake at home as potential alternatives to sometimes replace granulated white sugar in their kitchens.

Let’s mention some of them.  

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Sweeteners fall into one of two major categories: Nutritive (which provide calories since they are either sugar alcohols or various carbohydrates), or Nonnutritive (which in their pure state do not provide any calories).

There are products within each of the sweetener categories available for direct consumer purchase (possibly as liquids in bottles, as tablets, in packets, or in various “bulk bags”), or which are added by manufacturers during food manufacturing and processing (which should be noted on a product ingredient label). (Sweetener image courtesy of wax114 at rgbstock.com)

A lot of controversy exists concerning all the various types of sweeteners.

Health agencies and organizations try to zero in on the implications for use of various sweeteners as it affects the health of the general public.

You may have heard or read in the media that the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the American Heart Association (AHA) jointly released a scientific statement just this week on July 9, 2012, addressing 6 nonnutritive sweeteners currently in use in the USA (Acesulfame-K, Aspartame, Neotame, Saccharin, Stevia Glucosides, and Sucralose). A 7th nonnutritive sweetener also approved for use in the US by the FDA, luo han guo fruit extract, was not addressed in the scientific statement.

There are additional details about nonnutritive sweeteners in general and those that were specifically mentioned in the ADA/AHA scientific statement which might be of interest to you, your family and your friends.

Let’s share some additional, practical infotainment perspectives on the role of various types of sweeteners in your food supply.

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According to their program’s newsletter, some students enrolled in a special gastronomic curriculum in Italy claim it is still possible to suffer bouts of “food fatigue” there, unlikely as it sounds.

Mind you, second year students in this Italian rooted program often have a chance to further expand their food horizons by traveling to additional places around the world. For example, they might engage in study trips to Brazil, Canada, Japan, and South Africa, that allow them to explore the local gastronomy and culture wherever they go. The curriculum, including additional countries visited, is always subject to change. (Graphic of citrus fruits from Naples, Italy, courtesy of Carol & Mike P, fellow cruise lovers).

The idea of the program is to produce a new breed of gastronomes. Nonetheless, it seems that sometimes food fatigue can apparently set in for even the the most devoted die-hard “foodies” out there.

After all, life is about perception, and we have to accept that maybe some of those students have become jaded while living in and going to school in such a food-focused world.

Right now it is summertime in Italy, and tomatoes and other fresh fruits and vegetables are ripening all over, so hopefully the gastronomes are once again feeling more inspired & renewed in their gastronomic journeys.

To try to help those students feeling in a “food rut” to get out of their comfort zone and re-experience all Italy has to offer, a fruit and vegetable delivery service is actually bringing nature’s harvested fresh bounty right to where the students are.

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Tomatoes qualify as a very popular non-starchy “vegetable” (even if they are botanically a “fruit” per se) based on per capita consumption in the USA, second only to potatoes.

Year 2005 data from USDA noted tomato consumption from various sources, including primarily canned & frozen, as well as some fresh, to be close to 100# of farm weight/per person/per year.

The next closest non-starchy vegetable category item, carrots, was noted to have consumption levels at just above 10# of farm weight/per person/per yr.

(Different Tomatoes 2 graphic courtesy of salsachica at rgbstock.com)

What contributes to the wild popularity of tomato products?

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We’ve discussed the importance of eating food choices from the “rainbow of color” options out there, but some readers wrote in asking for even more specifics than we have previously listed in various blog posts.

Although within the US we have moved from using a model of a food guide pyramid to using a model of a plate to encourage healthful choices in dining, there are still some useful pyramid options out there.

(Fresh Produce on Display in Taormina, Sicily, Italy, graphic courtesy of Betty H)

The “Mediterranean Diet” (general Mediterranean style dietary intake as part of a total lifestyle) visualized as a food guide pyramid is one example; and an anti-inflammatory pyramid popularized by Dr. Andrew Weil is another example.

For infotainment purposes only, we’ll share some anti-inflammatory food item options in the following listing, which is by no means all-inclusive, but should give you the gist of the breadth and depth of wonderful food source options that have been reported to have some anti-inflammatory properties. A dietetic colleague, John S. Pasztor, MPH, RD, CDE, over at the The Regional Diabetes and Endocrine Center, Cape Fear Valley Health System, gladly shares another version of a list from 2009 with his patients and with members of a dietetic practice group one of us belongs to.

We have used for inspiration bits and pieces of various skeleton listings out there and then come up with our own fleshed out infotainment version, subject to change/further updating, which follows. Research is ongoing and some items will show up on one list, but not another, in various reviews of research, so realize the list* is always subject to modification/updating as newer research results are reported and older results further clarified.

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