Sports nutrition products — a need or just a marketing invention?

Sports nutrition products -— a need or just a marketing invention?

Even if you are into sports, you’ll only need your regular diet plus plenty of water. Thus, you do not need a sport nutrition product. Right? Wrong.

The need for sports and sport nutrition product

Records of antiquities show that athletics has been an integral part of earliest man’s life. Athletic life was originally meant for survival through gathering food or for self protection. Later, it developed into a contest for strength, speed, skill, and mental sharpness. With the passage of time, these activities evolved into what we now know as different forms of exercises, or sports.

Our ancestors even then, fully understand the need of our body for exercise and other forms of physical activities. They instinctively know that in order to maintain their health and further developed their physical whole being, they need to have some activities. And from this early, they understand the need for a special food, the modern version of which is our sport nutrition product.

Basic dietary patterns of our ancestors

Evidences about prehistoric people’s diets can be glimpsed from the artifacts used in food preparation such as milling, baking, and ultimately cooking. From these bits of information, we are informed that the basic diet of early Greeks and Romans for instance was a perfect combination of plant and animal products. They ate several variety of cereals, vegetables, fruits (fresh and dried), and lots of wine (usually diluted with water in varying degree).

Early Greeks’ main meat source is that of goats. In Italy it was pork meat products specially bacon. Beef was occasionally eaten, particularly after sacrifices in numerous temples. Milk, and perhaps milk product, was a very popular food. Fish and poultry were also part of the regular diet. The slight difference of these early people with our modern diet is that olive oil was consumed in greater volume than butter. The oil was also a main source for household lighting.

Combined with good sport nutrition product, this diet, a formula made thousands of years ago, is a perfect dietary program for a modern sports man. Our ancestors knew then, that although foods abound in nature, there are several nutritional sources that fit better a healthy lifestyle.

Sports nutrition product

Fast forward into our modern setting. It is important for athletes to have good nutrition for maximum strength, optimum agility, endurance, and improved overall performance. The foundation for any successful athletic program is a good combination of a well-thought based on whole foods (veggies, fruits, whole grains, and proteins, remember the Greeks?) supplemented with a special sport nutrition product, and course a good regimen of exercise.

While it is true that dedication, good training techniques, and genetics are still the main element in an athlete’s effectiveness, the lack of a proper nutrition coupled with the absence of nutritional supplement like sport nutrition product can inhibit an athlete’s performance in any other forms of exercise.

Without a good eating habits combined with sport nutrition product, pre-games and competitions proper may end disastrously. Optimal nutrition is only attainable with perfect dietary practice, combined with sport nutrition product as important element. It is only thru a sustained adherence to this good combination of regimen and sport nutrition product that a stellar performance is assured.

Sports nutrition product sales increasing

In 2003, it was reported that overall retail market for sports nutrition products, reached the value of .1 billion. Beverages accounted for 63 percent of sales, according to a new report Packaged Facts. However, these drinks have been marketed more for general nutrition, rather than sports benefits. Packaged Facts confirmed that physically active adults were only 10-percent more likely to use sports beverages than the general adult population.

But at least this is a start. It would still take a while before people realized that a good and sound body is never possible only by eating traditional foods, but by following a particular sports, combined with healthy food, and of course, with sport nutrition product.

We should learn from the early Greeks and Romans. By experience, they have learned that involving in a regular physical activities and consuming a well-balanced nutrition can result in a long and fruitful life.