It's a gesture we see very often on TV or from the stands. Professional players, who have barely had time to drink, spit out the contents of their water bottles straight away. Strange, right? Not really, as revealed by a L'Équipe investigation on the subject. The French daily newspaper informs us that these bottles generally contain glucose drinks, specially designed for sports activities, and whose particularity is to be effective when not ingested. A simple mouth rinse is enough: "This drink, kept in the mouth for a few seconds and then spit out, acts on the brain like a decoy that will improve physical performance during short-term efforts," explains Michel Martino, a dietitian specializing in sports nutrition. In 2011, a US study conducted by researchers E. J. Fares and B. Kayser on the effects of carbohydrate mouth rinsing on physical activity showed that, over an effort of less than an hour, having the habit of rinsing the mouth with a carbohydrate-filled drink every five minutes would improve endurance capacity by around 5%.
Brief
Why do players spit out the contents of their water bottles ? / ©Icon Sport