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Pink drinks can help you run faster and further, study finds

Press release:

A new study led by the Centre for Nutraceuticals in the University of Westminster shows that pink drinks can help to make you run faster and further compared to clear drinks.

The researchers found that a pink drink can increase exercise performance by 4.4 per cent and can also increase a ‘feel good’ effect which can make exercise seem easier.

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, is the first investigation to assess the effect of drink colour on exercise performance and provides the potential to open a new avenue of future research in the field of sports drinks and exercise.

During the study participants were asked to run on a treadmill for 30 minutes at a self-selected speed ensuring their rate of exertion remained consistent. Throughout the exercise they rinsed their mouths with either a pink artificially sweetened drink that was low in calories or a clear drink which was also artificially sweetened and low in calories.

Both drinks were exactly the same and only differed in appearance – the researchers added food dye to the pink drink to change the colour.

The researchers chose pink as it is associated with perceived sweetness and therefore increases expectations of sugar and carbohydrate intake.

Previous studies have also shown that rinsing the mouth with carbohydrates can improve exercise performance by reducing the perceived intensity of the exercise, so the researchers wanted to assess whether rinsing with a pink drink that had no carbohydrate stimulus could elicit similar benefits through a potential placebo effect.

The results show that the participants ran an average 212 metres further with the pink drink while their mean speed during the exercise test also increased by 4.4 per cent. Feelings of pleasure were also enhanced meaning participants found running more enjoyable.

Future exploratory research is necessary to find out whether the proposed placebo effect causes a similar activation to the reward areas of the brain that are commonly reported when rinsing the mouth with carbohydrates.

Talking about the study, Dr Sanjoy Deb, corresponding author on the paper from the University of Westminster, said: “The influence of colour on athletic performance has received interest previously, from its effect on a sportsperson’s kit to its impact on testosterone and muscular power. Similarly, the role of colour in gastronomy has received widespread interest, with research published on how visual cues or colour can affect subsequent flavour perception when eating and drinking.

“The findings from our study combine the art of gastronomy with performance nutrition, as adding a pink colourant to an artificially sweetened solution not only enhanced the perception of sweetness, but also enhanced feelings of pleasure, self-selected running speed and distance covered during a run.”

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The Use of Recovery Footwear

Athletes workout very hard to achieve their goals, usually by increasing the amount and intensity of their workout. On the other hand, what has become clearer lately is that relaxing and not training may perhaps be just as necessary as the specific working out that they perform. The rest or downtime is equally as significant with improving performance and is also an integral strategy to avoid injuries. Overuse injury deterrence is very necessary as if an exercise related injury develops then that affects the ability to exercise to improve overall performance. Every time a training load is applied by a hard workout, you will find some microdamage to the body. The tissues must recover from this damage. The tissues will return from a high intensity workout better if it’s allowed to rest. This microdamage must also recuperate. In case a additional exercising strain is carried out before that small trauma has recuperated, then the damage amasses and an overuse injury sooner or later occurs.

This is exactly why a great deal of research is considering the science of recuperation. Runners have to recover from games and training work outs ahead of the subsequent one. Generally this is as straightforward as only training hard one day and not training as hard the next day. What’s more, it ensures that pro athletes and scientists are looking for tips on how to speed up and facilitate recovery. For instance, costly but not entirely tested concepts such as ice bathing and hyperbaric oxygen chambers. It could imply something as simple as what is known as recovery footwear.

Following a exercise session, professional athletes love to take off their shoes and place on footwear which is comfy and frees the foot from the confines of those shoes. The favourite recovery shoes are frequently flip-flops or sandals which free the foot from the limitations of shoes. They are really commonly soft or well padded plus they typically have some foot support. The intention of these types of shoes are to help provide the feet and leg muscles some rest so that they don’t work as hard. The goal being that this will facilitate recuperation of those worn out feet as well as leg muscles so they are actually better ready for the following workout. A further benefit from those flip flops with an arch support constructed in, is they can be easily made use of by those athletes who are required to wear foot supports within their training shoes. The amount of arch support that may be built in these is usually is similar to that is available in over-the-counter supports that you can buy at retail.

There are many brands of these different kinds of recovery footwear. Among the most well-known in the United States is the Oofos brand name. Their shoes contain a lot of padding which is designed to really provide the foot a rest after having a high intensity exercise session. In Australia, a popular brand name are the Archies. The Archies are a flip flop with an above average amount of arch support and good padding. With these sorts of footwear, a reduced amount of energy is required to move, so that they improve recuperation which help the muscles and joints recuperation from those little discomfort that might come after a very hard workout. This means they are really much more ready for their subsequent workout.