EFFECT OF INGESTION OF WATER AND OF DEXTROSE SOLUTION ON EMPTYING TIME OF NORMAL STOMACH

Abstract

Trainers and coaches of athletic teams generally prohibit the ingestion of fluid by players during the hour immediately preceding athletic contests. One of the popular reasons for this prohibition is the belief that fluid taken prior to the game remains in the stomach (the stomach becoming "water-logged") and may cause nausea and vomiting, thereby impairing the player's efficiency. In recent years it has been a common practice to give athletes, such as football players, carbohydrate by mouth to supply readily available energy and to avoid hypoglycemia, which has been shown by Levine and Gordon 1 to occur in marathon runners. The purpose of this study was to determine the emptying time of the stomach in healthy young men after the ingestion of water and of dextrose solution during periods of rest and exercise. No evidence was found in the literature to support the popular belief that ingested fluid "water-logs" the