1. TREVOR’S MINERAL PROJECT By Trevor Dunn

2. MY QUESTIONS  How do electrolytes affect sports play?  What are the positive and negative affects of electrolytes?  What drink helps replenish electrolytes the best?

3. BACKGROUND ON ELECTROLYTES  Electrolytes are salts that carry an electric charge.  Some Examples of electrolytes are Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Chlorine, Phosphate and Magnesium.  Electrolytes are in your blood, urine and body fluids.  The cells in your body rely on electrolytes to: 1. Control cell membrane stability 2. Carry the electric charges needed for muscle contractions caused by nerve impulses.

4. SODIUM  Sodium plays a key role in normal nerve and muscle functions.  You lose Sodium through urine and sweat.  The body continually monitors blood volume and sodium and other electrolytes.  When either becomes too high, sensors in your heart, blood vessels, and kidneys detect the increases and stimulate the kidneys to decrease sodium then returning blood volume to normal.  When blood volume or sodium concentration becomes too low the sensors trigger mechanisms to increase blood volume.

5. POTASSIUM  Potassium is necessary for the normal functioning of cells, nerves and muscles.  Potassium is mainly lost in urine, but some Potassium is lost through the digestive tract and sweat.  A great increase of Potassium can lead to Hyperkalemia which can lead to irregular heartbeat.

6. HOW DO ELECTROLYTES AFFECT SPORTS PLAY?  Research shows that if you are doing high intensity physical training you should drink electrolyte drinks instead of water.  Electrolytes are important in sports because when you sweat you lose body fluids and when you drink something that has electrolytes, it helps replenish the body fluids you lose.  A sports drink that is easily metabolized will help with hydration, but electrolytes are the key.

7. WHAT ARE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE AFFECTS OF ELECTROLYTES?  Sometimes you can have too much or too little electrolytes that would be considered an imbalance of electrolytes.  An imbalance of electrolytes can lead to heart failure or death. Other problems can be kidney failure and loss of body fluids. Some symptoms that show you that you have a electrolyte imbalance are:  Vomiting, low blood pressure, rapid heart rate, sunken eyes, confusion or loss of consciousness. You would have an electrolyte imbalance if you had a altered amount of Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium and Sodium. Some types of problems with electrolyte imbalance is hyperkalemia when you have too much Potassium or hypercalcemia when you have too little or too high Calcium.

8. WHAT DRINK HELPS REPLENISH ELECTROLYTES THE BEST?  I learned that a lot of different drinks that help replenish electrolytes better then Gatorade some of them are Cytomax, Accelerade and GU20.  I learned that Cytomax is the best drink when you want to replenish electrolytes and is most healthy.  In a 8oz can of Cytomax has 7.25 grams sugar when a 8oz can of Gatorade has 14 grams of sugar, finally Cytomax has 60.75 grams of Potassium when Gatorade has only 30.  So overall Cytomax is better for you and replenishes more electrolytes.

9. THANKS FOR WATCHING  Goodbye