Your Enhanced Performance is Just a Couple Sips Away

You’re sitting on your living room couch watching your favourite TV show. A gatorade commercial comes on, you see your favourite NHL hockey player Erik Karlsson drinking a bottle of gatorade and all that goes through your head is “wow I want to be just like him”. So there you are at your next hockey game. It’s half way through the third period and your team is down 1-0. You get off the ice after a long hard fought shift, and while you’re on the bench you try to refuel by drinking some gatorade. But have you ever asked yourself why gatorade gives you energy?

What is the purpose of gatorade?

Figure 1: When body temperature increases, a negative feedback loop occurs to bring the body temperature back down. The blood vessels dilate to allow more blood near the surface of the skin for heat loss. The sweat gland releases fluid and heat is removed when it changes state. The fluid evaporates and heat is lost into the environment.

The practice before your next game, your coach tells you to drink lots of water the night before and throughout the day of your game. They aren’t just saying this to be a nuisance but in fact it’s for you to perform better during the game. Without the intake of fluid  before, after and during physical activity, there will be a lot of water loss through sweat (refer to figure 1) and there will be no fluid to keep the body hydrated. Gatorade fixes this problem, and on top of that, it improves performance and productivity. But why? Why does gatorade result in performance enhancement but water doesn’t? Gatorade is composed of sugar (carbohydrate), salts (electrolytes) and water. All these components combined, along with flavouring, allow for an effective performance enhancing energy drink.

How does the sugary drink affect our body?

Many parents are against gatorade because they are sugary drinks and they believe water is better, so they send their kids off to their hockey game with a bottle full of water. Little do they know, the sugary part of the drink is what helps their kids during physical activity. The 6% carbohydrate and salt in gatorade allows for rapid fluid absorption which is the process of absorbing water into the blood. Every stride you take on the ice, every drop of sweat that leaves your body, means you are losing fluid through the skin and through the lungs. This causes dehydration which then leads to less blood pumped to the heart, muscles have less access to oxygen and by-products of exercise such as lactic acid or carbon dioxide are not eliminated from the body as it should.  Therefore, every sip you take out of your squirt gatorade bottle is is extremely important in maintaining the body’s homeostasis because it increases fluid absorption.  

It’s the worst feeling ever!

We all know that feeling when you wake up at 5:45 am because you have to pee but you try to hold it in until 6:30 am which is when your alarm  goes off so that you don’t have to unwrap yourself from under the blankets that are keeping you cozy in bed. You wonder why this is happening and you realize it’s because you decided it’d be the best idea to drink a glass full of water right before you went to bed. This is because water and beverages with caffeine promote water loss through urination. On the other hand, the sodium present in gatorade helps maintain body fluid therefore ensuring rapid re-hydration and the fluid will not be rapidly excreted.

Now you must be wondering… how does gatorade enhance performance??

Figure 2: The carbohydrates present in gatorade supplies the muscles with energy through the process of cellular respiration. Through many aerobic processes, Adenosine Triphosphate is created and is the source of energy that goes to the muscles in the body.

The sugar all the parents complain about in gatorade is sucrose and glucose-fructose. Through the process of cellular respiration, these carbohydrates are turned into energy used to fuel the muscles which allow for a longer and harder work out. (Refer to figure 2) This means that in the third period of your hockey game, when you have to give it your all, your muscles will be fueled and good to go for the rest of the game. In addition, the electrolytes, charged ions, present in gatorade are essential to an athlete's performance. Electrolytes are responsible for maintaining the balance of fluids between the intracellular membrane and the extracellular membrane which is extremely important when it comes to hydration, nerve impulses, muscle function, and pH level. Therefore, without these electrolytes, your body may not be able to make that extra push needed to beat your opponents to the puck.

The salts present in gatorade also result in a good tasting beverage which encourages constant drinking of Gatorade and therefore athletes are refueling more. It encourages them to keep drinking until they are completely rehydrated, whereas with water, it has no flavour and therefore athletes will drink the bare minimum to keep them going. The flavour enhancing salt, balances with citric acid which allows for the maintenance of proper pH levels in the body which prompts more fluid intake.

Now everything has a down side….

Gatorade is extremely beneficial when you drink it at the proper times but it can be harmful if you drink it on a regular bases without doing a lot of physical activity. Gatorade does have a lot of sugar in it which means if you are drinking it on a regular basis because it “tastes good” rather than drinking it for the athletic performance benefits, then you have a higher chance of getting diabetes. It has been scientifically proven that there is a correlation between the consumption of gatorade and child obesity. For this reason, Gatorade, and any other drink, should be taken with precaution and for the right purposes.

The Fight Against Mitochondrial DNA Depletion

It was a few months ago when I felt as though I couldn’t lift the weight of my head, and I had trouble walking because my legs felt so weak. I decided to make my way to a hospital. I waited for hours until I finally got to see a doctor. In the few seconds I saw him, he prescribed me some medications and then sent me on my way. It wasn’t until a couple weeks later that I realized I was losing my hearing. At that point I knew something was definitely wrong, so I decided to go back.  

The doctors decided to dig deeper and run some more thorough tests. Based on my symptoms, they began to consider mitochondrial diseases. They performed a DNA test on my mom, my dad and I. I sat with my fist closed tightly as they located the popping vein in my arm and stuck a tiny needle in it. The purpose of this test is to determine whether or not there are any mutations present in the mitochondria’s DNA sequence. They also performed a biochemical test, which required a biopsy and they took a sample of my liver. This test let them know if my mitochondria, the most important organelle in aerobic cellular respiration, is working properly and effectively at the rate it should be. These tests assess mitochondrial function and duplication, while looking for any mutations in the sequence of my DNA.

They sent me home with no new knowledge, except for the fact that the test results may take up to 6 weeks. Thankfully, they came in two weeks early. At this point I felt weaker than ever before. My thought process had slowed, as I constantly delayed answering people when I was asked questions and I’d been vomiting almost every second day. I went back to the hospital, and they placed me in one of the beds. I looked to my right and saw a little kid getting his arm casted. He must’ve taken a hard fall during recess. After 30 minutes, the doctor finally came in and he started talking all his medical jargon which I couldn’t understand. All I want is for Dr. Hayword to speak a language I was able to comprehend.

Figure 1: Composition of mitochondria demonstrating the
 locations of the DNA present in the structure and how
it is throughout the entire structure. 

“What we believe you have falls under the category of disorders where there is a drop in mitochondrial DNA which has a great effect on many tissues throughout the body. This DNA, which is present throughout the entire mitochondria, is important in maintaining its structure, since it is where cellular respiration and energy production takes place in every human cell. (refer to figure 1) When there is a mutation in the DNA sequence, it isn’t harmful at first, but over time, the DNA duplicates and the mutations will accumulate, causing your symptoms.” explained Dr. Hayword. He continued with his medical talk while I sat in bed with a confused look on my face. “This disease causes mutation in the TK2 gene which causes TK2-MDS. TK2 Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome. This gene is responsible for providing instruction for the production of thymidine kinase 2, an enzyme whose task is to produce and maintain mitochondrial DNA. It allows the recycling of nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA, which can fix errors in the DNA sequence. When there are mutations in the TK2 gene, it reduces thymidine kinase 2 activity, which means there are less nucleotides to repair DNA.” I was still sitting there trying to understand how this could happen to me. Of all people, why me?

Figure 2: Demonstrates the way mutations pass on
to the next generation. In this case, the
picture to the very right is representative of this situation
because the child received both recessive genes.

“The reason I ordered tests for mom and dad as well is because this is an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance. This means the mitochondrial disease is a result of both parents having the specific mutated gene and both of these genes being passed on to the child. (refer to figure 2) Looking at the test results, both of you have the mutated gene. There was a 25% chance of your child receiving both recessive genes, and looking at her tests, both were inherited. This is a very rare disease as only 16 people in the world have had it. It is normally more fatal in babies and children, but you’ve managed to go through most of your teenage years with it, which is a good sign.”

All that was going through my head was “please let there be a cure… please let there be a cure”. To my luck, there is no cure, but there are treatments. I asked Dr. Hayword what he believes is the best approach and he suggested Nucleoside bypass therapy. The goal of this treatment is to restore the nucleosides until there are enough again. This is an oral treatment, taken in the form of a pill. These nucleosides would allow for the repair of mutations in DNA sequences. The only downfall is that this treatment was only available in the United States which means OHIP doesn’t cover the costs and my parents had to spend about $23 400 in one year for my treatment. Although it may have been expensive, it was all worth it in the end.

Here I am, at the age of 17, still alive and I feel stronger and stronger each day. I’ve still got a while to go in the hospital but it’s alright because I’ve already become friends with my roommate and every now and then in the hospital, the nurses and I have a few wheelchair races down the halls. Today, with the help of CHEO staff, we were able to have a  bake sale in the main lobby and we raised approximately $500 which will be sent to the University of Calgary, as they have the infrastructure to investigate the role of mitochondrial DNA and dynamics in disease. Although $500 doesn’t compare to the $250 000, they received from the Canadian government, I hope to one day be able to say, I helped find the answer to curing Mitochondrial DNA Depletion.

WHO NEEDS TO SWALLOW WHEN YOU CAN CHEW?

Have you ever thought to yourself “I really want to lose weight but I really don’t want to go to the gym”? Well here’s the perfect diet for you! Maybe… The Fletcherism diet may be up your alley. But is it really good for you?

Figure #1: Horace Fletcher, creator
of the Fletcherism diet in 1903.

We’ve all done it, where we started chewing something, we realized it tasted awful and our first reaction was to spit it out. Gross right? Well maybe not to some people who are trying to lose weight. Not to a man who considered himself to be old at the age of 40, a man who was 50 pounds overweight, a man who got the flu every 6 months, who didn’t stop complaining about indigestion and a man who was constantly tired. This is the man who discovered the Fletcherism diet. This man is named Horace Fletcher.

Horace Fletcher used to be an extremely athletic man throughout his younger college years and at the age of 40, this man who is 50 pounds overweight, struggles to walk up a flight of stairs without a struggle to breathe. He thought to himself how there must be a way to lose weight in a fast way. He then began his research and stumbled across an article written by Sir William Gladstone in which he pointed out how humans have 32 teeth which means nature would want humans to chew each bite 32 times. He then made his diet based on this

You thought school rules were strict?

Figure #2: To the left, Evan Murray chewing his food.
To the right, he proceeds to spit it out with the purpose
 of following the Fletcherism diet.

Horace Fletcher came up with a set of rules he believed were extremely important to follow in order to be successful:

• Chew your food until it’s liquid (about 32 times) and spit it out
• Never eat until you are hungry
• Savour the flavour
• Don’t eat when tired, angry or worried
• At meal times, do not talk about unpleasant things

What’s the science behind this diet?

Horace Fletcher’s theory was that swallowing food that wasn’t completely liquefied would pass through the colon and bacteria would turn the solid food into poison. This poison would eventually reach the bloodstream and result in a shorter life Is this theory truly supported by scientific facts? I believe not.

Horace Fletcher realized that it’s extremely difficult to chew meat to the point it’s completely liquid. Therefore he decided to cut out meat from his diet because who needs meat? It’s just another food that’s going to poison us all and shorten our life, right? Well not exactly. Horace Fletcher had the habit of cutting out foods from his life that interfered with his rules.

Figure #3: The digestive system and the path
food follows through the body before being
 absorbed into the bloodstream.

When food travels through the body, it goes through multiple processes of digestions in order to break down food and molecules that are eaten. When food reaches the small intestine after becoming chyme from the stomach, digestive juices that contain enzymes from the liver, pancreas and intestine help further break down food. When it is completely liquid, the small intestine absorbs the digested nutrients into the bloodstream. This blood then provides the rest of the body with nutrients. These nutrients are important because they supply the body with energy for certain vital processes. This completely opposes Horace Fletcher’s theory, because solid food does not turn into a poisonous substance but on the contrary, it supplies the body with nutrients.

So how was Horace Fletcher able to lose weight?

Well, I don’t know about you guys but I wouldn’t find chewing each bite 32 times fun. Horace Fletcher’s diet made him lose interest in eating. Eating was no longer appealing to him. His diet went from chewing each bite 32 times to eating less because he found his diet too unappealing. His loss of appetite is the reason Horace Fletcher was capable of losing 60 pounds in 5 months.

Consequences of the Fletcherism diet

There are many consequences that may arise from participating in the Fletcherism diet. This diet can result in eating less food than your body needs to function. When the body does not get enough calories and there is a quick loss in weight it can result in gall-stones which is only treated by surgery. Lack of proper nutrients and calories may also result in malnutrition disorders. If you decide to participate in this diet long term, the body may not be able to receive energy from proper sources and it may begin to burn muscle to obtain energy.

It goes without say, we have to give credit to Horace Fletcher for coming up with a quick way to lose weight. He did solve his problem. But personally, I would avoid the Fletcherism diet because I enjoy eating food and I want to keep it that way. I’d maybe try another more appealing diet than the Fletcherism diet. A diet that does not result in your drastic unhealthy weight loss. A diet that doesn't require spitting out every bite you take. A diet that doesn't kill your appetite. Therefore, I say, keep searching on the diet that's right for you.