Nuun Active Hydration

Nuun Active Hydration is a sports drink that is designed to keep you hydrated, not replenish your depleted glycogen stores. Now for us old stagers a sports drink that has no carbohydrate in it takes a bit of getting used to. But, even after reading the science, the proof of the pudding is in the eating – or in this case drinking – so does it actually work?

We encountered sports drink brand Nuun (pronounced ‘Noon’) at the Ice Bike trade exhibition of UK distributor, Madison. Apparently Nuun were the first company to separate hydration and electrolyte replacement from the usual sugary, carbohydrate based sports drinks that we were all used to and are now the market leading carb free sports drink in the US.

 

If you have ever had an effervescent vitamin supplement such as Berrocca then you will be familiar with the concept of a tablet which you simply pop into your water, watch it fiz away until completely dissolved and you are good to go. Well that’s exactly what Nuun tabs are, which like the concept of a sports drink with no carbs in it, takes some of getting used to. To begin with we thought these tabs were a bit of a gimmick, but after a while you start to realise that all sports drinks should be made this way; its so simple.

 

Unlike powders there is no mess and making a bottle up is easy. Plus transportation is practical as the small tubes of 12 tablets can be carried in your jersey pocket on a longer ride. Then should you run out of drink, as long as you can get water, the tabs allow you to make up a new bottle. Yes, its fair to say that we are complete converts when it comes to these effervescent tabs and the ease of making up a bottle of drink… (continued on page 2)>