Sugary drinks and football practice

This weekend my youngest son's football team won their first match in a year and a half. (Damian did a fantastic job as goal keeper and assisted the winning goal by kicking the ball 3/4 across the field, giving the scorer complete free range!). You can imagine the excitement! 

To celebrate the victory the kids proceeded to the cafeteria where they were served … liquid sugar.

If you have been following me for any time you will know that upon seeing a bunch of 12 yrs olds sitting around jugs of grenadine (sugar water) my heart bled. Here is why:

1. The muscles and the liver have enough reserves of glucose to fuel us for a day. Supplementing with liquid sugar after physical activity is only justified after at least 3-4hrs of continued physical effort (e.g running a marathon or something similar). There is no physiological need to do so after a football match of 1h30, especially if snacks were already consumed during half time.

2. Liquid sugar is a disaster for the pancreas and the liver and is a very significant driver of childhood obesity. According to the latest data from the WHO, worldwide 1 in 5 kids are overweight. (Damian's football team is unfortunately no exception). If a child enters adulthood with extra weight it is very difficult to reverse the situation.

3. Our ability to get fat depends to a large extent on how many fat cells we have. In the majority of people fat cells multiply during childhood and until the end of adolescence. After that most of us lose the ability to have our fat cells multiply and we store fat, to the extent possible, in our existing fat cells. Thus what happens during childhood and adolescence is critical - the more a child's body gets the signal that it needs to grow and multiply the number of fat cells, the more fat cells that child will take with them into adulthood. What sends the signal to the body to grow and multiply fat cells? Insulin. What causes the pancreas to secrete insulin like there is no tomorrow? Liquid Sugar 🤯

I could go on but I will stop here. I believe you get the point.

I am now off to write a message to the football group suggesting substituting grenadine with "strawberry water" for next time. Along his football gear Damian will be taking a cooler bag with a few bags of frozen strawberries for the next match!

Wish me luck …