HOMEOSTASIS AND SPORT DRINKS WEB WALK
Directions: As you follow the steps below, be sure to take detailed notes using your own handwriting.
DO NOT copy and paste. You will turn in a handwritten sheet of your answers.
1. Go to wikipedia.com and search for a description of homeostasis. Summarize in your own words
what homeostasis means and why it is an important concept for biology and living things.
2. If all of the water were removed from the human body, some 30 kg of assorted salts would
remain. Do some research and figure out how many pounds 30 kg is equal to.
3. Go to http://physioweb.med.uvm.edu/bodyfluids/fluid1.htm (Fluid Compartments in the Body,
University of Vermont). The human body is approximately 60% water. This site shows how the
water is compartmentalized into several major divisions. You will not be expected to remember
this information in detail – just read and summarize the main idea.
4. Go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jul/27/sports-drinks and read the article.
Should you look for a sports drink that is isotonic or is not isotonic? Does it help to drink a sports
drink after a workout?
5. Sports drinks have been the subject of recent scientific studies. Read the article “Protein
Ingestion and Endurance Exercise” and summarize the findings (results of the article). This
article has some hefty science language in it—read slowly and deliberately.
http://poweringmuscles.com/Article60,Protein_Ingestion_And_Endurance_Exercise_A_Closer_Look_At_The_Science.html
6. As a result of such studies, many sports enhancement products have been produced and sold.
Can you name three brands of sports drinks? Look critically at the description and marketing of
these products. Take a look at the following websites, and the advertising claims they make.
Poke around a bit, click on some of the links and information.
http://www.gatorade.com/default.aspx#product?s=gatorade-g
http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/brands/category/powerade.html
http://www.drinkallsport.com/products (Open this site, read, then click on All Sport
Science at the top…read.)
7. What does the marketing on the following website claim about the sports product Accel Gel, and
how does this product compare to other sport drinks (what is different about this one compared to
others)? (Open this site, read, then click on Description and Studies in the blue bars in the
middle of the page, read.)
http://www.pacifichealthlabs.com/accel-gel-all-natural-rapid-energy-gel-product.htmll
8. Answer the following questions:
a. Have you ever consumed a sports drink? If so, why?
b. Knowing what you know now, if you were a sports trainer, would you recommend that
your athletes consume sports drinks? Why or why not?
c. What do sports drinks have to do with homeostasis? Your answer should be at least four
sentences. (If you don’t know the answer to this, go back and read some of the articles
and advertising above…)