Sports drinks, also known as electrolyte drinks, are functional beverages whose stated purpose is to help athletes replace water, electrolytes, and energy before, during and especially after training or competition. There are many perceived benefits and questions pertaining to the efficacy of use for sports and fitness performance. At times if used too much, in wrong cases (as most of nutritional items) they may hinder health or performance. The drinks, or some of their ingredients such as sugar, may not be suitable for certain conditions. Categories of sport drinks Sports drinks can be split into three major types: Isotonic sport drinks contain similar concentrations of salt and sugar as in the human body. Hypertonic sport drinks contain a higher concentration of salt and sugar than the human body. Hypotonic sport drinks contain a lower concentration of salt and sugar than the human body. Most sports drinks are approximately isotonic, having between 4 and 5 heaped teaspoons of sugar per eight ounce (13 and 19 grams per 250ml) serving. Purpose and effectiveness Athletes that are actively training lose water and electrolytes from their bodies by sweating, and expending energy. Sports drinks are considered to be a solution for this problem through fluid replacement, carbohydrate loading and nutrient supplementation. It is perceived that sodium present in sports drinks might help to avoid Hyponatremia (low sodium in the blood), however, many studies counter this by demonstrating that this is not the case. Many studies claim that the consumption of an electrolyte containing sports drink does not protect against this condition. A stated purpose of sports drinks, which provide many calories of energy from sugars, is to improve performance and endurance. The potential benefits of sports drinks depends upon other factors including the quantity of the beverage ingested, the time if takes for the drink to be emptied from ones body, absorption time, and the carbohydrate type. Potentially harmful effects Some potentially harmful health effects of drinking sports drinks without prolonged exercise include weight gain, diabetes and dental erosion. These drinks are high in calories and sugar which thereby can contribute towards an unhealthy diet. Generally, sports drinks contain two-thirds the amount of sugar found in a normal soda. The sugar found in sports drinks still exceeds the recommended amount of sugar in a day for a child. Sports drinks also contain high amount of caffeine among other dietary supplements. Often the concentration of